The Distance Between Stars
by WanderingWoodskeep
Summary: Leila loved playing video games, but the last thing she ever expected was becoming a part of one, let alone travelling alongside its protagonist and getting wrapped up in its complex-as-hell plot. (KH1, OC-centric, no ships)
1. An All-Consuming Terror

**CHAPTER 1: An All-Consuming Terror**

" _I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss." ― Ransom Riggs_

* * *

" _Leila, I love you, but if you play Kingdom Hearts while I'm sitting here, dying of boredom, I might_ actually _strangle you."_

 _Leila snorted, lifting the case over her shoulder and shaking it at Grey, sitting behind her on the chase. "What, don't want to see the wonderful adventures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy continue?"_

" _Not when I'm about to die!" There was a light huff—probably Grey flopping back into the fluffy cushions, before he continued. "What do you even like about the game?"_

" _I think you mean what's_ not _to like." She turned around and held out the case, as if a closer inspection of the colorful characters would make Grey understand where she was coming from. "Just look at it! It's Disney! And anime! And Final Fantasy! All at the same time in one compact game with some of your favorite movies, combined with heart-wrenching plots about existence, memories, and the good-ol'-trope of light versus darkness."_

 _Gray sat up a bit, squinted his eyes at the disc case, then shook his head. "Nope. Can't see it."_

" _Aw, c'mon man!"_

" _Sorry, it's just not what I like." Grey shrugged and leaned back in the chase while Leila dramatically flopped down into a nearby bean bag chair. "What I_ really _don't get is your obsession with the freaking_ fourteen year old _that you're controlling."_

" _What?" Leila grinned at him over her shoulder. At his judgemental glare, she smirked and shrugged. "C'mon, it's a childhood crush. Let me have some fun."_

" _Really. A childhood crush." Grey deadpanned. He put his chin in his hands and made his voice high-pitched and nasally. "Ooooh it's_ Sora! _Look at my son beat down those_ bad men! _And Riku, mmm, lift me up with those beefy arms! And Kairi, oh my_ gawd, _what a complete cinnamon roll―"_

" _Shut_ up, _you're such a dick!" Leila picked up a throw pillow and threw it at Grey, the both of them laughing. "Alright, I get the message. I'll keep my crush to myself, alright?"_

" _Oh, thank god. I don't want to undo years of voice training to get my point across again." Grey patted her shoulder. "I just think that, since you shun me for dating Vanessa, I should have every right to shun you for liking a digital anime boy."_

" _Excuse_ you, _Sora's only a year or two younger than me. Vanessa's a eighth grader and a weird person in general."_

" _Sora's_ way _weirder than Vanessa. Plus, Sora will forever be, what, fourteen? Even when you're in your thirties. Me 'n Van only have a three year age difference. We'll age together."_

" _And you'll deal with her first period with all the dignity in the world."_

 _Grey grumbled, getting up from the chase to browse the small stack of disc cases stacked against the wall. "C'mon, I want to play against you instead of just watching you play Kingdom Hearts 2 for the umpteenth time."_

" _Fine, fine." She rolled her eyes and put the game cartridge down, giving it a parting glance before going to Grey's side and debating which game they could play. She could play Kingdom Hearts later, when she was alone and didn't have a certain_ someone _judging her._

 _For now, it was time to have fun with her friend._

* * *

She felt calm.

There were no worries, no pressure around her, as she aimlessly floated. Leila breathed deeply, easily, sleep weighing her limbs down as she lazily drew her hands up to her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. She yawned, stretching her arms high above her head, blinking to look around her.

Leila froze mid-stretch, eyes as wide as her open mouth. Instead of her familiar, deep orange room and her drab wooden ceiling fan, there was a deep blanket of darkness, stretching out endlessly in front of her. Out of curiosity, she moved her hand in front of her face, seeing familiar tan skin and her leather bracelet.

"What's…?" Her voice echoed around her, filling the void with some warmth, if only for a fleeting second. She twisted around, trying to see if there really was nothing but her and the darkness, only seeing her warm pajamas and the rest of her body, nothing more.

Then she looked up, feeling a bit of tension on her chest lessen as she saw a pinprick of light off in the distance, the center about the size of a dime. It wasn't a pure white, like a lightbulb, or even a warm, sunny yellow, but rather a light purple. Still, it was something other than the endless darkness, and was apparently bright enough for her to see her body… but not the floor?

Leila spun around, managing to flip with near-casual ease so that the light was beneath her feet. Her hair was lifted by an invisible breeze, slowly rising above her head, her clothing rustling and bunching up around her. She reached down, pulling her loose t-shirt down to, blushing as she realized that she was in her pajamas.

As Leila looked around the void, she noticed it steadily growing brighter, and looked down at the light. She barely had time to yelp and cover her eyes before a brilliant flash nearly blinded her. Her bare feet hit something solid, and cold, and she stumbled as gravity took effect, falling to the floor.

Lowering her arms, she drew herself up and looked around, still seeing the dark void. She was standing on a beautiful glass pane, mainly colored a deep purple with gold, star-shaped pieces scattered throughout. She took a few steps back from the center, making out a full-body portrait of… _herself_ featured in the center. Curly black hair framed her face, violet eyes unseeing as she stared at the sky. She didn't recognize the outfit: a deep green sweatshirt jacket with short sleeves, black shorts, and a pair of red-white converse. Above her portrait's right shoulder was a white crescent moon, and in the opposite corner was a yellow sun.

Leila shook her head as she examined the pane. "I've been playing _way_ to much Kingdom Hearts…" Sure, the game meant a lot to her, having helped her through some tough spots in her life, but to dream about it?

Well, she'd always wanted to dream about meeting her favorite video game characters. Apparently, it was finally giving her what she'd always wanted.

"This is probably based on the prologues for both games… so, I just have to try and make it to the end, right?" Leila murmured. The lack of sound unnerved her, and she suddenly wished for there to be some sort of soundtrack accompanying her.

" **Leeeiiilaaa…"** She froze as a guttural, scratchy voice echoed around her. The glass pane beneath her seemed to dull, the bright and vibrant colors fading until they were nearly grayscale, only a tint of their original color remaining.

"Who's there?" Leila called out, jumping as a skittering noise came from behind her. A laugh echoed in the empty space, going from a deep chuckle to a high-pitched, manic cackle that forced her to cover her ears. She hunched over and screwed her eyes shut, as if that would help block out the terrible noise. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut the hell _up!"_

The laughter stopped. Leila opened one eye, then the other, stunned at the sudden shift. She lowered her hands and stood straight, her breaths echoing in the silence.

" **Leeeiiilaaa…"** This time Leila grit her teeth, slowly turning as she tried to find the source. " **You know what you did** _ **wrong."**_

"I haven't _done_ anything." Leila called out. "Well, not yet, at least. I mean, this is just a dream where some dumb voice taunts me because it can. I'm probably stressing out over my APs, so my brain decided to make me feel worse by giving me a anxiety-filled lucid dream.'"

The voice chuckled again. " **Idiot."**

"Coward." She rebutted, spinning around and seeing a flash of yellow in the corner of her eye. "Y'know, if I think _really_ hard, I think I can just make you show up."

The voice started up its terrible laughter once more. " **No you can't. You're a blind fool, hiding away from what's really happening around you. You** _ **actually**_ **think this is a dream?"**

"What else could it be?"

" **Oh, I don't know. How about—"** The skittering noise came from behind her, and Leila spun, tense and ready to fight. Her jaw dropped as she realized she was nose to nose with a completely black, humanoid creature with glowing yellow eyes, and a too-wide grin full of razor-sharp teeth. " _ **Reality?"**_

Leila screamed, shoving at the creature and backing away. The creature rolled, doing an odd somersault of sorts and pushing itself up onto its hands and knees. It crouched, wisps of darkness peeled off of its body, twitching spastically as its finger-like claws clicked against the glass pane. It grinned at her, twitching its head left, right, left, almost like it was working out a kink. It laughed maniacally, tilting its upper body back until it was standing, albeit hunched.

Its head jerked back, yellow eyes glowing against pitch-black skin as it stumbled closer, like it wasn't used to walking. " **Oh, poor little Leila. Scared of your own shadow?"**

"What the hell _are_ you?" Leila took a step back for each inch it drew closer until her heel nearly slipped off the edge of the pane. She looked back at the endless void around her, then back at the… the _creature,_ nearly choking on her tongue when she saw that it had drawn closer.

" **What's that one quote you love to hear in your games? I am thou, thou art I?"** It slowly stretched its arms out, suppressing its twitches as it stalked her. " **Though, I don't think you're all that happy to hear it from me."**

"Shut up." She said, for lack of anything better. She glanced to the left, where there was more space to move around, and subtly angled her body to run. "Why are you even _here?_ You keep saying that I've done something, but you haven't told me what."

" **See, the more you say 'I don't know,' the more you're telling me you're really that stupid."** It pointed a clawed finger at its head, now less than three feet away. " **Think really,** _ **really**_ **hard. What happened before you came here?"**

Leila bolted to the left, only to be immediately grabbed by the shadow creature and thrown to the floor. It hissed, showing off sharp rows of teeth. Yelling, Leila used one hand to shove at its chest while the other kept its head away from her throat. It growled, scratching at her arms and face before getting close enough to grab Leila's throat and squeeze. Panic gripped Leila, and she stopped trying to push the creature away in favor of scratching at its hands, struggling to breathe, make a sound, _something._

" **Since you are being** _ **such**_ **a pain, I'll enlighten you."** It leaned closer to her, tightening its grip further and cutting off her airway entirely. " **You aren't meant to be here. You were never supposed to make it this far, and you** _ **know**_ **it."**

Leila kicked and bucked wildly with all her energy to throw it off. Thoughts awash with panic, she couldn't even begin to 'remember' what had happened before arriving at the pane. She didn't know what it was talking about, and at this point, all she wanted was to wake up in her bed, safe and sound _._

" **You disgust me. Just disappear, like the rest of your world."** It hissed, somehow picking her up off the ground and slamming her into the pane. Despite the lack of distance and strength the hit should've had, the glass beneath her shattered. As she began to fall, the creature let go of her neck, and watched with gleaming, joy-filled eyes as she plummeted.

She wasn't even able to cough, just watch in horror as the pane disappeared into a myriad of shards, and the creature blended into darkness. Her throat throbbed in time with her racing pulse, and she felt tears fall from her eyes as the black void surrounding her shifted into a deep navy blue, speckled with pinpricks of white.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, right before her back collided with something solid, and she was thrown back into darkness.

* * *

Consciousness came back in bits and pieces.

First was hearing, the somewhat measured sound of her breathing expanded to more domestic sounds—plates clicking together, a door creaking open, a high-pitched hiss that roars to life, only to die down not five seconds later.

Next came feeling, which slammed into her with the force of a freight train. Her skin felt like it had been methodically ripped off, left to dry in front of a fireplace, sprinkled with salt and chalk, and then sewed back on about five times too tight. An all-consuming ache had settled deep into her bones, and the absolute last thing she wanted to do, now or ever, was move.

Then came thought, with the stunning realization that she had gone through, essentially, an acid trip and had _no clue_ where she was. Leila let out a pained hiss as her body protested even the smallest movement, and she collapsed back onto the bed. Gritting her teeth and doing her best to ignore just how badly her… _everything_ hurt, Leila looked around the room she was in.

She was currently lying on a well-worn couch, a thick quilt tucked tightly around her. There was a large, but outdated TV directly across from her, currently turned off. Faint sunlight filtered in through a set of windows in front of her. While she couldn't look behind the couch or above her head, she could make out various kitschy knick-knacks lining the walls: seashells, sand dollars, and starfish were strung up, filling the spaces between thumb-tacked polaroids and child-made drawings. She couldn't make out any fine details, being so far away and having just woken up, but she could make out that most of them had two or three figures, or were scenic shots of a beach.

Gritting her teeth, Leila did her best to push herself up until she was sitting, the quilt falling into her lap. She shivered as the cool air brushed against her skin and did her best to massage the soreness from her arms.

"Oh!" Leila jumped and turned her head too fast to the right, hissing as her neck made a disconcerting _crrk_ and a new pain flared to life. Through squinted eyes, Leila watched as a somewhat pudgy woman with curlers in her hair approached her, gently placing her hand on Leila's forehead. "...Good, the fever broke."

"Fever?" Leila winced at the sound of her voice, croaky and brittle from god knows what.

"Ah, I guess you don't know what happened." The woman gave her a kind, yet sad, smile. "Stay here for a bit, I'll make us a drink. Sit back, get comfortable! I'd rather you don't strain yourself so soon."

Leila slowly moved so that she was propped against the couch, doing her best to keep the quilt on her as she did. The pain in her neck was slowly fading, but she was still careful as she looked to where the woman had gone. To her right was a small kitchen with a gas stove, an island counter, a fridge, and a microwave. At the moment, the woman had grabbed two beach-themed mugs from a cabinet. "Do you like anything with your tea?"

"Uh… Honey?" Leila coughed, feeling like her throat had been covered in a layer of sandpaper. Forcing her way through the pain, she spoke again. "What… happened?"

"Well, by all means, last night was normal for us. My son and I went to bed relatively early, but I woke up at some ungodly hour to hear a window opening, only to see him running like a mad man towards the Play Island." The woman paused her story to pour steaming water from a nearby kettle into the mugs. In one, she poured a large amount of sugar, while the other she poured some honey into. She stirred both thoroughly and then made her way back to the couch.

"My son, Sora, was the one that found you." The woman said as she held out the mug with tea and honey for Leila. "I don't know _what_ he did, but when I finally got my shoes on and chased him down, I found the both of you on the shoreline. You were both soaking wet, and Sora was trying to shake you awake. When you didn't wake up, Sora helped me carry you back to our home."

Leila hummed, picking up the cup and taking a slow sip. It was surprisingly sweet, and it soothed her throat. "And, here is… where, exactly?"

"We're on the Fate Isles, on the smallest island, Destiny. Do you know where that is?"

Leila shook her head. "Doesn't sound close to home, I can tell you that."

"Do you at least know how you wound up in the ocean?"

Leila frowned and did her best to think back. "I… think I was in my room? I was up late working on something, I went to bed, and then…"

 _Then darkness, a stained glass platform, a shadowy figure,_ " _ **You aren't meant to be here."**_

"…Then I woke up here. I don't even remember hitting the water."

The woman hummed. "I'm no doctor, but maybe the shock from everything that happened caused you to forget?"

"It's a better theory than anything that I have." Leila finished her tea, placing the mug back on the table. "I'm sorry for intruding, if that's any consolation."

"You're hardly intruding, dear." The woman stood and took Leila's mug, heading towards the kitchen. "You were hurt, and though my boy was dumb and gave me a heart attack, jumping from his window like that, I'm glad that we found you before something worse happened."

"His _window?"_

"Oh, don't worry. He jumped to a nearby palm tree, climbed down, and then ran off. I swear, he can be a regular monkey, and his friends certainly don't discourage his behavior." Leila heard the woman chuckle lightly, the ceramic clicking together as she put the mugs in the sink. "He's grounded until further notice."

" _What!"_ Leila jumped and hastily looked over her shoulder, mouth dropping open as she saw a small boy standing at the base of a staircase. "But I helped!"

"And gave me a heart attack, running off like that without telling me why." The woman came back from the kitchen with a wooden spoon in hand, pointing it at him with a small pout. "Besides, you were up _way_ past your bedtime, mister, and we both know that you're not allowed out of the house after dark without me."

Leila watched the interaction numbly, distantly aware that her jaw had dropped. Though he wasn't wearing his most-recognizable outfit, and his hair was more of a bird's nest than its usual, spiky style, she immediately recognized him.

Standing at the base of the stairs was Sora from Kingdom Hearts, the game series she knew like the back of her hand.

* * *

 **AN:** So... hello. This is my first foray into the Kingdom Hearts fandom (though I've been a part of it for a while), and I've been working on this fic and my OC for a long time now, probably well over a year or two at this point. It's not completed, not by any stretch of the imagination, but my goal is to complete this story. Not half-ass it, not abandon it, but _complete_ it.

I've never posted an OC story before, let alone a self insert OC, but I'm gonna try and do my best with this! I hope I've made this intro chapter interesting enough to get you all invested, hopefully, and that you'll stick around to see what happens next! Thank you all for reading!


	2. Adjustment Period

**CHAPTER 2: Adjustment Period**

" _If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present." ― Roy T. Bennett_

* * *

March 1st, 2002.

Sora's mom ("My name is Hoshino Haruto," had told Leila after Sora stopped pouting about his grounding, and Leila had picked up her jaw from the floor) had flipped the calendar over last night, displaying a thawing winter landscape with one groundhog hopping around on the surface while another slept beneath the earth in a happy little home. There were a few small birds building a nest in a tree, and off in the background, grazing under the early-morning sun, was a pair of deer.

Yesterday, Mrs. Haruto insisted that Leila stay on the couch and recover her strength. The afternoon had been filled with intermittent naps, occasionally broken by Sora coming downstairs to play with some action figures, as he'd been grounded from going out to play and couldn't watch TV without his mother chastising him for "disturbing Leila." When her back was turned, he tried to ask Leila about any cool stuff she'd done, or where she'd come from, but Mrs. Haruto put a stop to that by saying she'd lengthen Sora's punishment if he kept bothering Leila.

Now it was the next day. Sora was still grounded, Mrs. Haruto was probably just about to wake up, and Leila had been staring at the calendar since she poured herself a bowl of sugary cereal, probably Sora's usual breakfast. The bolded, intricately styled 2002 taunted her, a stark reminder of where she was; stuck in a completely different world from hers, fifteen years in the past, with fictional faces staring back at her and no way to get home.

"Get over it, Leila." She hissed to herself, feeling a melancholy knot rise in her chest. A _calendar,_ of all things, should not be what bothered her the most. But right now, it was the best thing she could be mad at without hurting herself or, worse, getting thrown out. She wanted to pace, to—to pick up a ball and throw it at a wall, do _something,_ but she could still barely move, even with the day of rest. She was still sore, and it took nearly all of her energy to walk from the couch to the kitchen counter (less than five feet away) and make a bowl of cereal.

It didn't help that this whole situation still felt completely unreal. It would have been enough if she were just teleported to a tropical island with no reliable way to contact home, stuck relying on the kindness of strangers who, really, were _far_ too kind for their own good. No, time travel had to be involved, and being transported to a fictional universe, and living with the protagonist of a story that she loved more than she loved herself, with the imminent destruction of all worlds on the horizon.

Leila grumpily scooped another spoonful of cereal and shoved it into her mouth, glaring holes into the calendar. She really, _really_ wanted to hit something right now.

"You're up early." Leila forcibly relaxed the grip on her spoon and looked over her shoulder, waving to Mrs. Haruto as she came down the stairs. Unlike yesterday, she was wearing a sundress, her hair was down, and she had some makeup on. "I don't suppose you made some coffee, huh?"

"Sorry, I hate the smell. I helped myself to some cereal, I hope that's not a problem."

"Sora might be upset, but he won't be up for a little while yet." Mrs. Haruto grabbed a small saucepan from a cabinet and a box of coffee grounds. She poured some water into the saucepan, then turned on the stove, waiting a bit before putting in a cup of the grounds and letting it sit. "I hope you don't mind, but I have to work today, and I'll have to bring Sora with me. I can't exactly enforce my grounding if I leave him home alone."

Leila made a non-committal hum, focusing on just finishing her meal. She jiggled her foot and tapped her fingers against the island counter, uncomfortable with the silence. Mrs. Haruto would stir the grounds every now and again, and her spoon would clink against the bowl, but that was it.

"Where do you work?" Leila asked.

"At The Lofty Bookkeep, further inland. Besides the manager, I'm the only one that works there, so the pay is great." Mrs. Haruto sighed. "I just wish Ushio was around."

"Ushio?"

"My husband. He… he passed when Sora was young." Mrs. Haruto stopped stirring, and got strainer from a lower cabinet.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, you couldn't have known. Besides, if you're going to be staying here, you should know that there isn't a 'man of the house'." She chuckled sadly, a nostalgic smile on her face as she prepared her coffee. Leila lazily stirred her cereal around, watching the multi-colored bits swirl around as Mrs. Haruto continued her morning routine.

"If…" Leila paused, bit her lip, then pushed on. "If you didn't want to bring Sora with you, I wouldn't mind looking after him. You could even tell him that he has to take care of me as part of his punishment."

Mrs. Haruto laughed. "I can see it now: my son, trying his best to make you chicken soup while you're buried under five layers of blankets, a thermometer in your mouth, and an icepack on your head."

"He goes overboard, huh?"

" _Very_ overboard." Mrs. Haruto drank from her now-finished cup of coffee. "He means well, honest, but he doesn't know what he's doing."

Leila smiled and finished her bowl of cereal, leaning on the island and making her way to the sink. She cleaned it out as best as she could, drying it out with a dish towel and leaving it on the counter.

"Well, if you'd be willing to keep him grounded while I'm working, I don't see why he can't stay here with you." Mrs. Haruto smiled at Leila, and went back to the refrigerator. One of the magnets was a small notepad, and she grabbed a pen before jotting down a few things. "These are all the things Sora can't do while he's grounded, though I doubt he'll try to do most of them. He'll probably be pestering you more than anything."

"I can handle it. " Leila was given a relatively short list and she glanced over everything. It was more-or-less standard stuff: no video games, no junk food, bedtime was eight o'clock sharp. The only thing that stood out was that Sora was banned from going to the Play Island, but everything seemed reasonable and easy to enforce. "And all of this."

"Alright, kiddo," Leila jumped as Mrs. Haruto ruffled her hair before heading towards the front door. "You be good now! Sora knows where the lunch money and phone book are, just make sure he doesn't go overboard with anything."

"Uh—" Leila didn't even manage to get a 'goodbye' out before Mrs. Haruto closed the door behind her. The faint _vrrrm_ of a car engine came from outside, and then Sora was suddenly tearing down the stairs and out the front door. There was a good two minutes where Leila, still leaning on the counter, simply stared at the ajar front door.

Then Sora came running back in an ear-splitting grin, kicking the door closed behind him. "Does this mean I can go play with Kairi and Riku now?"

"Sorry, kid," Leila held up the list. "Got strict orders from the lady of the house. No fun allowed."

"Darnit." Sora pouted as he made his way into the kitchen, jumping up atop the counters to grab a cereal bowl and the box of cereal Leila had put away. As Sora made his breakfast, idly scratching his head and pulling at the knots in his hair, she was struck by just how _young_ Sora was. After playing Kingdom Hearts 2 so much and seeing the trailers for the upcoming third game, it was hard to remember that Sora was just a kid, only a few years younger than her. She had definitely been thrown into a time before the events of the first game, though how far back was beyond her.

"Y'know, since I'm probably gonna be napping on the couch a lot, it's entirely possible that I won't be able to see _everything_ you do."

Sora looked away from pouring his milk to grin at her, and Leila felt just a tiny bit better.

* * *

After making his cereal, Sora dragged her back to the couch, somehow keeping everything in his bowl from spilling on the floor as he plopped down on the opposite end. As Mrs. Haruto implied, Sora pestered her in the form of asking her a barrage of questions.

So. Many. _Questions._

"What's your favorite color? Where'd you used to live? Why are your eyes that color? Do you have any friends? What do you do when you're bored? What's your favorite movie? What's your favorite cartoon? Do you like the news? Because if you like the news, I'm sorry, but I'm going to watch cartoons."

And, just as he said, Sora turned the TV on and flicked through the channels until a cartoon came on. It wasn't a show she recognized, though she couldn't tell if that was due to her being in a fictional universe, so all fictional media was different, or if it was just because she didn't recognize any of the cartoons from the early 2000s.

"Uh… I like blue. I live basically in the middle of a forest. I had a few friends back home, but not a lot. I like drawing. Back to the Future is awesome. I… guess I like Pokémon? But I also like what you're watching now."

"More than the news?"

"Cartoons are better than the news by a landslide." Though, she wouldn't mind watching the news to get a scope of what the island was like, subtly. Still, watching something with a kid as Sora was fun, and it could give her a moment to sleep, if he left her alone for a bit. "What about you?"

"Red, I've only ever lived here, I have a lot of friends that I play with on the Play Island but Riku and Kairi are my best friends, napping or video games, The Iron Giant, we're watching my favorite cartoon right now and _duh,_ of course I like cartoons better than the news! The news is boring."

"Did you have this whole line of questions planned out in advance?"

"Well, yeah. You're one of the coolest things to happen here in a while." Sora shrugged. "I didn't get to ask you anything yesterday, so I thought up all the things I _really_ wanted to ask you today if mom let me."

"And was knowing whether or not I like cartoons was a matter of life or death, huh?"

"Yep!"

They both chuckled and, though Leila could tell that Sora had a _lot_ more questions, he kept quiet as they watched the episode. Whenever a commercial break came on, Sora peppered her with a few new questions he remembered, ranging from what she thought would happen next in the episode to more general questions about Leila and her life.

When the episode ended, Sora muted the TV and turned to her. "What games do you like to play?"

"Depends, whatcha got?"

Sora, for some reason, had Mario Party 3, which made the afternoon pass much faster and kept Leila's mind off of… everything, really. They made it through two boards (Sora won the first, but Leila beat everyone by a landslide on the second) before they got hungry enough to stop and order a half-cheese, half-anchovies pizza.

"Hey, Leila?" Sora asked around his bite of pizza.

"Yeah?"

"You didn't answer one of my questions."

"Well, you asked me a good twenty before you turned on the TV. I couldn't've answered _everything."_ Sora pouted at Leila, and she chuckled. "Aw, c'mon, I didn't mean to not answer. What was the question?"

"I wanted to know why your eyes are purple." Leila froze, pizza raised halfway from her plate. "I've never seen someone with that color before, and I was just curious."

Leila put her half-finished slice down and bit her lip. Even in a fictional universe filled with monsters and world-hopping and god knows what else, purple eyes stood out just as well as they did back home. "Do they… freak you out?"

"Nah, I think they're cool!" Sora shoved the rest of his pizza crust into his mouth then laid down on the couch. "'Ay remin' me o' reehu'sh."

"…What?"

Sora hastily swallowed, pounding his chest a bit. "I said they remind me of Riku's. He has these really crazy bright blue eyes—they glow in the dark sometimes, I swear!"

Leila did her best to tamp down the ever-present anxiety and cover it with a smile. Sora's question was an honest one, and he didn't mean anything bad by it, but it was hard to ignore what had become an almost-conditioned response. She took a calming breath, and did her best to answer his question. "I don't know. No one knows, really. Had some doctors do some tests when I was younger, but as far as they could tell, my eyes were perfectly fine."

"Well, I think they're really cool!" Sora gave her a toothy grin, then grabbed his controller to select a new game board. "C'mon, I want to end our tie before mom gets home."

Leila grabbed her controller with one hand and nibbled on the rest of her pizza slice with the other. As they selected the third board and their characters, Leila felt her anxiety slowly die to a barely-noticeable thrum as she lost herself in the game and did her best to one up Sora and the computer players.

* * *

Mrs. Haruto came back three hours later, after two more boards of Mario Party and a short period of time where Leila and Sora watched the news (at her insistence because, even though the news was boring, she needed to have a _slight_ grasp of what was happening on the island). She stumbled through the front door, plastic bags rustling, and her strained voice called out. "Little help here?"

Sora got up and ran, taking what was probably the biggest bag his mother brought in and stumbling a bit as he struggled with its weight. Leila chuckled and managed to get to her feet to take a few of the lighter bags. While getting rest was important for her to recover, she had to move around to make sure she didn't go nuts from laying around so much.

"What're you making tonight, mom?" Sora asked as he helped unpack a few things.

"A big ol' heap of seafood paella." Mrs. Haruto answered. "Hope you don't mind, Leila. You're not allergic to shellfish, are you?"

Leila shook her head and watched as Mrs. Haruto and Sora prepared dinner. Sora grabbed the pots, pans, and dry ingredients, while Mrs. Haruto focused on actually cooking the meal. When the dish was nearly done, Leila and Sora helped set the table, and patiently waited as Mrs. Haruto brought out a massive dish, filled to the brim for them to dig into.

Sora dug in, practically inhaling everything he hastily put on his own plate. Mrs. Haruto and Leila paced themselves, with the former cautiously looking for the least burned pieces. The older woman smiled at her somewhat picky behavior. "Never had paella before?"

"It's… not a common dish back home." Leila replied, stabbing one of the shrimp with her fork and taking a slow bite. It didn't taste _bad,_ just… different from anything she'd normally choose to eat.

Sora hastily swallowed, beaming and showing off the pieces of chewed-up rice between his teeth. "Mom's cooking is the best!"

"Any mother's cooking is." Leila returned, and scooped some rice into her spoon. "Didn't get a lot of it back home, but whenever I did, it was always great."

The dinner passed with the occasional snippet of conversation, either Mrs. Haruto talking about something annoying that happened, or Sora not-so-subtly trying to hint that they had a fun day without telling his mother what, exactly, they did. Judging by the knowing smile on her face, Mrs. Haruto had an idea of what they'd been doing, but she didn't seem too upset.

When they were nearly finished (Sora scooping up a second helping after cleaning his plate of the first), Mrs. Haruto cleared her throat. "Leila, can I ask you something?"

Leila froze with her fork raised halfway to her mouth. She hastily placed it down on her plate and nodded at the older woman. "Shoot."

"When you tried to contact your family, did you get any response?" Leila bit her lip and looked away, fiddling her fingers. She couldn't contact her parents but, even if she could and she was in, y'know, _reality_ , she doubted that anyone would've picked up.

Mrs. Haruto sighed. "Then, you can stay here until you can get home, or until you find a place to live on the island on your own."

Leila's head bolted up, starring incredulously at Mrs. Haruto. Sora nearly choked on his mouthful of paella, sputtering and coughing up half-chewed rice before turning to his mother. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Mrs. Haruto smiled gently at Leila. "I'm not about to turn you out on the street, especially when you still haven't recovered. You can refuse if you want, but for now, you're welcome to stay here."

Leila sat there, stunned. Sora made up for her lack of enthusiasm in droves, jumping off his seat and running around the room, whooping and hollering and shaking Leila back in forth, as if moving her enough would get her to react.

"I—" Leila said when she eventually found her voice. "Are you… are you serious?"

"Would you rather I kick you out?"

"N-No! It's just… I don't know what to say."

"Well, then, finish eating your paella and help Sora and I clean up. Tomorrow, we'll get you some new clothes that haven't been ruined by saltwater." Mrs. Haruto smiled, showing off rosy, dimpled cheeks. Leila fell silent, refusing to touch the remainder of her paella, giving it to Sora when he asked.

* * *

The next morning, Mrs. Haruto followed through, taking Sora and a still-shocked Leila to the marketplace. Sora, though grumpy and reluctant to go anywhere so early in the morning (as they had gone out before Mrs. Haruto went to work her shift), he was swayed by his mother saying she'd end his grounding early if he came along. Leila, though still sore, was able to keep up with the both of them after they drove further inland to the shopping district.

As Mrs. Haruto drove, Leila watched at the passing buildings and scenery. Her knowledge of Sora's home was limited to the few scenes of Kairi walking around in the beginning of KH2, and the few days where the Destiny Trio gathered supplies for the raft, which was limited to the Play Island. The mainland of Destiny Island was a sprawling island town, filled with too many mom and pop shops to count, with several fishing boats circling around the coastline. The sky was a bright, cyan blue with barely a cloud in the sky, a few gulls flying overhead.

To put it simply, Destiny Islands was quaint, but full of life. If Leila could, she would live there, but probably further inland than Mrs. Haruto's house.

After parking and spending a good hour shopping, Mrs. Haruto had decided they'd gotten enough clothes for Leila for about a week, as well as a few new outfits for Sora. Leila nearly had a heart attack when she saw Sora trying on his recognizable red romper and short, black-on-white jacket. In comparison to Sora's somewhat ridiculous clothes, Leila's were more… reasonable. She mainly bought a few plain t-shirts, jeans, and a pair of pajamas. No big shoes (just the pair of converse she had when she got here), no plaid, and no ludicrous amounts of zippers.

All in all, normal clothes and a somewhat normal day. Which, when dealing with Kingdom Hearts, was a hard commodity to come by.

Once that was done, Mrs. Haruto placed her bags on the ground and kneeled until she was at Sora's height. "Well, I have to go to my shift in a few minutes. Due to your good behavior and taking care of Leila, by the powers vested in me as your mother, I now declare you, Sora Haruto, ungrounded!"

Sora cheered, spinning on his heel and running towards the coast. Leila followed him for a few steps, but was stopped when Mrs. Haruto, laughing, called her back. "It's fine! The islands are safe, and he's probably heading to the docks to get to the Play Island. He's just excited to get away from all this shopping and meet up with his friends."

"You sure he'll be okay?"

"I take it you didn't live in a place that was as safe as it is here." Mrs. Haruto patted Leila's shoulder. "No need to worry. The path Sora takes to the docks is completely safe."

Leila blew a raspberry, nodding and turning around. It wasn't like she _had_ to be so concerned about Sora, but he acted _way_ younger than he actually was. Sora was pretty much the epitome of the kid you'd see in those 'street safety' videos that got kidnapped in the beginning. "So, where to next?"

* * *

 **AN:** GOD I hated this chapter. Like, after such a quick start, this chapter felt like a complete _drag_ to write, since I needed to establish Sora's mom, the relationship between Sora and Leila, and just get a bunch of boring, everyday stuff out of the way. Plus, on Tumblr, I couldn't figure out WHAT to make the little promo pic for this fic to be, since not a lot of cool stuff happens to make a whole nine-image board from.

Regardless, for those who have favorited and followed this story since the last update, thank you! And thank you all for reading!


	3. The Storm to End All Storms

**CHAPTER 3: The Storm to End All Storms**

" _There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." ― Jane Austen_

* * *

After dropping the bags of clothing off at Mrs. Haruto's house, they went to The Lofty Bookkeep. After talking to the manager, Leila managed to stay in the break room to rest while Mrs. Haruto manned the counter. After her shift ended, they headed straight home, Mrs. Haruto dialing the number of a local Chinese restaurant for take-out. Sora came home, smelling of salt water and sand, just in time to enjoy his serving of dumplings.

The following week, a routine was more-or-less established. Leila woke up early and prepared breakfast for herself and Sora, while Mrs. Haruto focused on making her own coffee and food. Sora would run off to the Play Island, Leila and Mrs. Haruto would both go to the Lofty Bookkeep, with the latter working until sunset. Sometimes they'd go and buy groceries, sometimes they'd get take-out, but the day always ended with eating dinner together, watching some TV, and then they'd head to bed.

Leila's sore and pulled muscles healed, slowly but surely, and she even offered to help around the store to lighten Mrs. Haruto's workload. She could run around and do small errands for her or, when Mrs. Haruto didn't want her around the shop, she would hang around some of the older kids on the island. Sometimes Sora would bug her until she got up from the couch and chased him around the house. She'd only caught him once, managing to catch up when he tripped at the top step of the stairs. She pinned him, pulling him up into her arms and ducked into his bedroom, throwing him onto his bed and crushing him beneath her.

Sora groaned, but they were both laughing. Leila rolled off of him, falling to the floor, gently rubbing at her arms and legs. She had recovered a fair amount since waking up, and Sora was pretty light which made the strenuous activity easier on her, but it still hurt a bit. Sora turned his head to look at her, propping up his head with his arms. "You should come with me to the Play Island. You could beat Riku in a race, easy."

She froze then abruptly stood, ruffling his hair and heading out of the room. "Nah, I'm way older than you. No way Riku would say that it counted."

Sora goaded her, trying to get her to come to the Play Island the next few days, but she constantly struck him down. It was bad enough she was interacting with Sora and basically living alongside him, she didn't need to get intertwined with Riku and Kairi's lives, too.

There was another, more selfish reason she didn't want to go: she was scared to go near the ocean. Even if she hadn't been pulled to the shore, half-drowned, by Sora, she'd always had a fear of it. If she really needed to go, then she could, but it was still something that made her weak in the knees, and having to sit in a small, rickety boat to get there and back wasn't going to do her any favors.

Regardless, maintaining the routine with Mrs. Haruto, who rarely ever went to the shore, kept her away from the ocean and Sora's misadventures. After a few days, Leila felt less like an outsider, and she did her best to adjust and act more like an off-kilter tourist and not an inter-dimensional time traveler. Less than a week ago, everything around Leila was fictional. Destiny Islands was nothing more than a fictional location, only showing off the few children that lived there with everything else being insignificant. Now she'd met Sora's mother, had bought groceries from Ms. Konishi (who was _Selphie's_ mom, and boy, that was something that felt weird to know), had walked past Unmei Academy with Mrs. Haruto. She even suggested that Leila could be enrolled once the semester started up.

Leila smiled and did her best to ignore the lingering sense of dread that everything would go wrong.

* * *

When then the storm rolled in, Leila didn't connect the dots, because it started off as a normal, everyday thunderstorm.

The only thing odd was that it came out of nowhere, the sky turning dark soon after sunset when Leila and Mrs. Haruto were halfway home. They hurried the rest of the way, claps of thunder echoing overhead as it began to pour. Mrs. Haruto waited at the window, biting her fingernails, only looking relieved when she saw Sora sprinting down the block, covering his head to try and shield himself from the worst of the storm.

The end result was a soaked-to-the-bone Sora trudging through the front door, somehow perfectly encapsulating the appearance of a wet cat. Doing a poor job of stifling her giggles, Leila grabbed a big, fluffy towel from the linen closet while his mother berated him. "I _told_ you, if you see a storm, you head _straight_ home young man! What if your boat capsized, or it got too dark for you to find your way home?"

"'M sorry, mom. We were watching the sunset, and then the storm just came outta nowhere, and then I walked Kairi to the orphanage before comin' home." Sora said through his chattering teeth.

Leila chose that moment to throw the towel over his head, openly laughing as he flailed and nearly fell down.

"Thank you, Leila." Mrs. Haruto rubbed Sora's head with the towel, ignoring his indignant protests. "You go on upstairs, dry off, and put on some new clothes. I'll call you down when dinner's ready, alright?"

"Okay, mom." Sora pulled the towel off his head and carefully took off his sandals before heading for the stairs. When he passed Leila, he made sure to shake off some of the excess water near her, laughing when she shrieked in mock-outrage.

Mrs. Haruto chuckled, the tension in her shoulders finally falling as she made her way to the kitchen. "You're a regular part of the family, I swear."

Leila rolled her eyes. "I've only been here for two weeks, Mrs. Haruto."

"Still, Sora always seems happy to come home and pester you."

"Because he can get away with it."

"And that's _exactly_ what makes you family." Mrs. Haruto smiled and took the boxes of sushi from the take-out bag. "I just need to heat these up in the microwave for a few seconds. Should give Sora enough time to get dressed, at the very least."

The microwave beeped as Mrs. Haruto set the cook time, and Leila flopped against the couch/bed. She watched rain pelt the window, flashes of lightning illuminating the sky every now and again. The few palm trees standing just before the beach were bending under the force of the wind, and Leila wouldn't be surprised if something came crashing through the window.

A few minutes passed, the silence filled by the pattering rain, rolling thunder, and the microwave's hum. Without looking away from the microwave, Mrs. Haruto called out, "Sora, dinner's ready! Come on down!"

They both looked towards the stairs when they didn't hear the excited _thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!_ of Sora running down the stairs. Leila pulled herself up from the couch and stretched. "I'll go check on him. He probably just fell asleep."

"If he's _not_ asleep, tell him to hurry up before I eat all his sushi!" Mrs. Haruto called after her as Leila went up the stairs. Sora's room was the closest to the staircase, on the right, with a big window that gave him the perfect view of the coastline. It was filled with a lot of personal items, like a plush toy and some wood carvings, and there was even a small bookshelf filled with comic books, and a few guides on how to fish.

Leila's heart plummeted, however, when she entered the dark room and saw that it was empty. The curtains were billowing from the open window, and Leila jumped on top of his bed to peer outside. She could barely see anything through the downpour, but off in the distance, nearing the pier, she could see a blurry figure running towards the choppy waters.

" _Shit."_ Leila swore and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and skidded to a stop in front of the front door. She jumped on one foot, doing her best to slip on her converse and tie her shoelaces without falling over.

Mrs. Haruto rushed around the corner. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Sora's an _idiot,_ that's what happened!" Leila finished tying her shoes and ripped the front door open. In the minute or so it took for Leila to run downstairs, the rain had worsened, falling in sheets and making it impossible to see more than ten feet ahead. Leila threw up the hood of her jacket, tucking her bun beneath her shirt collar to try and keep as dry as possible. "Stay here, I'll get him."

" _What?_ Where is he?"

"Heading for the Play Island, for some stupid reason!' Leila called over her shoulder as she ran out, going around the house and running as fast as possible without slipping or, given her luck, running into something. The rain pelted her face and sunk into her clothes, slowing her down, but she simply pushed on.

For a moment, Leila wondered if she was _actually_ following Sora. That, instead, the kid was in the bathroom and just didn't say anything, thinking that this would be a great prank to pull on her because "haha, it's her first island storm!" and she was actually chasing after some random, crazy asshole who decided to swim in what would probably qualify as hurricane conditions.

Either way, she was going to beat the ever-loving crap out of Sora when she got back to the house.

When Leila started running on something that felt distinctly _not_ like the sidewalk she'd been running on, a resounding _boom_ rang out overhead, the shockwave knocking her to the ground. She coughed, spitting out the mouthful of sand she'd nearly swallowed, and pushed herself to her feet. To her surprise, the rain and harsh wind and stopped, which came a little too late, seeing as she was already soaked and now covered with sand. She looked around, noticing that the ocean appeared completely still, and then happened to glance up.

Leila felt her heart freeze over. Hovering high above the sky was a pulsing orb of… _something,_ a perfect circle carved through the clouds around it. Its color shifted every second, running through every color in the rainbow, silver lines of energy wrapping around it and fizzling off into the sky. She could feel it beating, like a heart, deep within her bones, blurring her vision and making it hard to see.

"No," She whispered, realizing what was happening. "No, _no._ Sora didn't even mention the raft at the house. Oh my god. Shit. _Shit."_

She had an ultimatum in front of her: turn back to the house and let her and the island be consumed by the darkness, or push forward and try to meet up with Sora. While the first wasn't ideal by any stretch of the imagination, meeting up with Sora meant she'd have to cross the ocean. Which meant she'd either have to try and find one of the small boats the kids used and row across, which she'd never done before, or try swimming across, which she'd only done in pools.

Groaning, Leila brushed some stray strands of hair behind her ear, only to freeze when she heard a weird skittering noise behind her. Spinning, Leila nearly screamed when she saw a small hoard of Shadow Heartless pull themselves out of the sand behind her.

"Glad to see you guys are here to speed up my decision making!" Leila shouted as she ran for the docks, the Heartless chittering as they chased after her. Her feet pounded against the wood, the sound drowning out the pulses overhead. Reaching the end of the docks, Leila skidded to a stop, trying to find the small boats that the kids used to get to the island.

A garbled screech came from behind her. Leila screamed as one of the Heartless jumped onto her back, its claws nearly managing to rip through her jacket as it struggled to find a grip. She flailed, reaching behind her back and grabbing it by one of its antennae and pulled to fling it off her back—

And promptly stepped right off the dock.

On the plus side, the Shadow Heartless promptly disappeared, the semi-solid body in her hands evaporating and slipping through her fingers. Everything else, however, was pretty crap. A burst of bubbles left her mouth when she hit the water, her body locking up from the shock of cold. After a few seconds of sinking, Leila desperately swam to the surface, gasping once her head breached.

Gathered at the edge of the dock was the hoard of Shadow Heartless, all of them hanging as close as they could to the edge, some even reaching out to try and scratch at her. Leila wiped some excess sea water from her face and slowly turned until she was facing the Play Island. She drew close enough to the dock to where she could kick off on one of the wooden supports, barely avoiding the Heartless' claws as she swam to the island off in the distance.

* * *

"If I _ever_ swim again, it'll be too soon." Leila grumbled as she _finally_ reached the shallows of the island and stood. Salt water dripped from her entire body as she waded through the water, flicking out her arms to try and get at dry as possible. Glancing at the sky, the sphere appeared to have grown larger, but Leila couldn't tell if it had drawn closer or if it was because she was looking at it from a different angle.

Leila looked around the island just in time to duck from the Shadow Heartless leaping at her head, claws outstretched. Leila backed away from the coastline, only to stop when she heard chittering behind her. In the short amount of time she'd been on the island, the Heartless had already risen from the ground, making a ring around her.

"Well," Leila rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, cracking her knuckles. "I'm not about to swim back, so you're just gonna have to deal with me."

The Heartless didn't acknowledge her declaration, twitching and slinking across the ground as they normally did. A few drew closer, as if testing to see what she would do, while some hung back to wait. Leila ran up to one and kicked it in the head, the Heartless flying back and dissolving into a puddle of darkness.

That was the signal for them to swarm. They were like cats, curling and twisting around her ankles, clawing at her legs to keep her still, scrabbling up her back, jumping at her arms, trying to drag her down, down, down. Leila shouted as their claws pierced through her jacket's thin fabric, digging into her skin. The only reason why she was still standing, kicking and flailing to throw them off, was that even the Heartless seemed to be fighting over her. When one reached her chest, wiggling its little fingers, about to attack, another would bite and drag it off of her, only to take its place.

A chorus of shrieks came from her right, and suddenly the Heartless jumped off of her, pushing her to the ground. There was a series of deep pops, and the weight of the few who still clung to her arms and back vanished. The remaining Heartless hissed and backed away, weird clicks leaving their them as they circled her.

"Leila?" She groaned and pushed herself up until she was kneeling in the sand, brushing some sand off her jeans. She looked up to see Sora, just as soaked and terrified as she was, the iconic Kingdom Key held in hand. "What are you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing here? I chased after _you_ because you decided it would be fun to run out into a freaking hurricane!" A screech came from behind her, and Leila spun, throwing out a punch that luckily collided with the Heartless' head. It dissipated into a dark mist, not even a puddle of darkness left in its wake. "What were you thinking? You gave us a heart attack!"

"We had a raft here, and it wasn't tied down to anything, so I came out here to try and make sure it wouldn't float away!" Sora paused to swat at another Shadow Heartless that was trying to sneak up to them. "And then I saw Kairi and Riku's boats tied to the dock and I couldn't just _leave_ them here and now Riku's gone and—"

Leila kneeled and grabbed Sora's shoulders. "Calm down. Riku's gone?"

He nodded, a little sniffle leaving him. "He's just… he's just _gone."_

Leila winced. Granted, she knew the moment she saw his keyblade that Riku was gone, but Sora's devastated expression still tugged at her heart. The game never showed this, just giving Sora a brief moment to examine the keyblade before slaughtering the hordes of Heartless. "Okay, what about Kairi?"

"I still haven't found her. I was looking, and I heard you fighting these guys, and I thought you were Kairi..."

Leila nodded, patted Sora's shoulders, and stood. "Okay, let's try and find her, together, then head back. Maybe Riku ended up on the mainland."

Sora nodded, either ignoring or accepting the overly optimistic statement, and rested the Keyblade on his shoulder, looking towards waterfall. "I think I saw something weird over there before I found Riku. Maybe that's where Kairi is?"

"Better than wandering around aimlessly." Leila shrugged, letting Sora take the lead while she covered their back, mainly just striking at the occasional Heartless that tried to sneak up on them. As Sora sliced the Heartless, a crystal Heart would rise from their remains and disappear into thin air, while the ones Leila kicked at simply dissipated into mist. For a brief moment, she felt somewhat sad, but it was lost under the surge of adrenaline as they kept the Heartless at bay to the best of their ability.

"Here!" Sora shouted. Leila turned to see they were right next the waterfall. A large, ornate double door had been wedged between the large tree and the rockface. Intricate, swirling patterns were carved into the marble surface, shining silver handles begged for it to be opened. While Leila continued to keep the Heartless away with wide kicks, Sora pulled it open, grunting with the effort. "It was hiding the hole to the secret place. It's small, so you'll have to crawl to get in."

Leila made an affirmative sound, waiting a few seconds for Sora to get through. She made eye contact with all the irate, hissing Heartless, then spun and dove, crawling through the incredibly small tunnel entrance. She hissed as one of the Heartless' scratched at her leg, managing to dig through the denim and nick her skin, but she made it through before they could do anything else.

After the cramped entrance, the tunnel opened up into a much larger area, easily tall enough for Sora and Leila to stand at their full height. Despite this, it was practically pitch black in the cave, and with Sora in front of her, Leila didn't have a hope of seeing anything. She could see a faint light coming from further down the tunnel, but even then, it barely made a difference.

"C'mon!" Sora shouted, running down the tunnel with a familiar ease. Leila hastily placed her hand on the wall, using that as a guide as she moved at a somewhat slower pace, careful not to trip. "This leads to a dead-end. Kairi's _got_ to be here!"

 _She's here, all right._ Leila thought with a grimace, nearly running into the wall when the tunnel made an abrupt left turn. The light grew stronger, making it easier to navigate and see what the tunnel actually looked like. Vines, or maybe tree roots, crawled along the walls, becoming thinner the further they went. Though Leila could no longer see the sphere of darkness hovering overhead, nor feel its pulses pounding in time with her heartbeat, a heavy feeling of dread hung to the air.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, Leila took a moment to look around the small cave they'd ended up in. There were more tree roots here, and the faint light coming from… _somewhere_ past Sora illuminated multiple drawings along the wall. She peered around Sora's shoulder to see Kairi standing at the opposite wall in front of an oval piece of wood set into the rocks.

Before Leila could utter a word, a blinding light appeared, and she stumbled back in shock, hastily covering her eyes. She blinked dazedly, managing to open them a second later, only to stare in bemusement as the cave didn't appear any brighter. Using Sora as a shield, she tried to find the source, but whatever had blinded her had vanished, apparently affecting no one else.

"Sora…" Kairi slowly turned around, reaching out to them, head tilted quizzically with an absent glaze in her eyes. Sora ran towards her, arms open wide—

The piece of wood behind Kairi flew open, a howling wind ripping through the cave as a wave of darkness pulsed out and slammed into Leila, nearly bowling her over. She braced against the sudden impact, throwing her arms up and crouching, though she managed to peek through her arms to watch. For a brief moment, it looked like the two collided, that Sora had caught Kairi in his arms.

And then Kairi disappeared, her body existing one second and vanishing into nothing the next. The wind picked up, throwing Sora off his feet and colliding into Leila, knocking them both to the ground. A loud groan echoed throughout the cave, and Leila hastily pushed herself to her feet, eyeing the void the door had hidden as darkness pooled into the cave. She grabbed Sora by his jacket to pull him down the tunnel, frantically shouting, "Get up, we gotta _go!"_

Sora looked at the ink-like darkness pooling into the cave, then looked around the entire cave before rising to his feet and booking it alongside her down the tunnel. As they reached the tunnel entrance, Leila had the brief thought that it looked much larger than when they entered before another pulse slammed into them, throwing them outside.

Leila rolled uncontrollably, grains of sand flying into her mouth before she finally skidded to a stop and, to her complete terror, her legs slipping off the edge of _something._ She scrabbled at the sand for a decent handhold, struggling to pull herself up, before Sora appeared in front of her and helped her back onto somewhat-stable ground and onto her feet.

The ocean and most of the island had completely vanished, a void of swirling black and purple replacing it. Bits of broken wood were plunged into the sand; she could make out what was probably a floor or ceiling, the curved bow of the play ship, a log from the dock, but the rest were scattered plywood. There were no rocks or trees in sight, all of them pulled away by the wind whipping around them. Leila could feel the pulses of the sphere again, fast and heavy, pressing down on her body and making it hard to breathe. She looked up and saw it hovering overhead, much larger than before, countless streams of debris flying into it, the core of energy blood red and angry.

Another groan echoed around them, causing the hair on the back of Leila's neck to stand on end. A light jingle of chains came from behind them, and they turned to see two massive, clawed hands rise from a gigantic puddle of darkness. Two tiny wings appeared after that, followed by a curving spine, and tentacle-like protrusions. The creature rose to its full height, easily three times Leila's own, to expose spindly legs, and a heart-shaped hole in its stomach.

Leila choked on her own breath as she stared up at the beady yellow eyes of Darkside, a baying groan leaving it as it pulled its arms above his head and slammed them down to crush them.

* * *

 **AN:** _Wow_ sorry for the long hiatus between chapters. I wanted to participate in Kinktober on Ao3 (because we all know how this site deals with NSFW works...) and I didn't want to write a Teen-rated fic that's really only _slightly_ violent alongside really NSFW works. I didn't want to associate one with the other, y'know? Plus, if I was going to do daily fics, I needed to focus 100% on that to get it done.

But then I got into a super bad headspace and decided to go back to writing this fic because, hey, this is basically my escapism fic and I missed writing Leila and Sora. Shit happened so fast, didn't it!

Regardless of how long I take, thank you for reading!


	4. A World Away from Home

**CHAPTER 4: A World Away from Home**

" _Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." ― Terry Pratchett_

* * *

Leila had never really feared any of the enemies from Kingdom Hearts. Sure, she felt hate towards most of the enemies that were annoying to kill (god knows how many times she wanted to strangle those angel... pot... _things_ during the Hades Cup), and she hated certain members of the Organization simply because they were creepy and, on occasion, complete bullshit.

Darkside was one of the enemies she thought was actually awesome. It had a simple, yet easily recognizable, design, and since it was the first boss Sora fought, she'd always been desensitized to its appearance. Union Cross didn't make it any better, as Darkside was a raid boss, and she could beat it with a few flicks of her finger.

Staring the Heartless in the face as it towered above her, a second away from getting crushed, she could understand how terrifying Darkside actually was.

Leila dove to the left, yelping when its fists hit the sand, a large spray flying up in the air. She looked over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of Sora scrambling to his feet and holding the Keyblade in front of him before she was booking it to the pile of wood. She looked over the planks, trying to find… _something_ to use against Darkside. Riku and Sora both used wooden swords to play fight, right? Maybe she could find one of those and—

" _Leila!"_ Leila glanced over her shoulder and ducked, a sphere of plasma-like energy flying over her head and hitting the pile of wood. The moment they collided, the pile exploded into a mess of splinters and flaming debris, the flames licking at her face. Coughing at the scent of smoke, Leila ran away from the pile, dodging the occasional plasma sphere that came her way.

"What do we do?" Sora shouted, hiding behind a few bushes that stubbornly clung to the ground.

"I don't know, try hitting it?" Leila shouted back, frantically running around while looking for a weapon. "It's either that or get blasted to bits!"

"Why don't you help out?"

"Yeah, like kicking and punching it will do a whole lot!"

"I'm not gonna do much better!"

"You and your sword's a whole lot better at killing things than I am. You've got a better shot at doing something than I do." Leila skidded to a stop, hastily jumping back to avoid a plasma blast that came from the back of Darkside, a strand of energy whipping off and brushing against her t-shirt. A faint, dark line appeared across her chest, and she swallowed, thankfully it hadn't burned through the fabric and hurt her.

Leila watched as Darkside rose to its feet, lumbering around to face her. Above them, the pulsing sphere drowned out her frantic heartbeat as she stared into its beady eyes, the yellow glow casting odd shadows across its face.

Sora yelled, running out of his cover with his Keyblade raised above his head. The Darkside's body slowly turned to face him, but didn't bother to block or stop Sora as he swung down, slashing its leg.

It didn't flinch. Hell, it didn't even make a _sound._ All it did was lower itself to the ground, placing one hand on the sand and plunging the other into a viscous pool of swirling darkness, all the way down to its elbow. Taking her own advice to heart, Leila rushed forward, finding a handhold on its non-submerged arm and frantically kicking it, holding on for dear life as it began to stand up. Annoyed, Darkside shook her off, and Leila skidded across the ground to end up next to Sora. Groaning, Leila slowly climbed to her feet, already feeling skid marks forming on her palms.

"Wow, we sure did a lot, didn't we?"

"Better than doing nothing and just letting it kill us." Leila grumbled.

Darkside groaned, pulling its arm from the puddle. Small Shadow Heartless swarmed around its feet, chittering as they broke away from their master, dashing towards the two of them.

They fell into the same rhythm from before, while heading to the door to the Secret Place. Leila grabbed any Heartless that jumped at them while Sora swiped at the ones that crawled along the ground. Darkside, for the meantime, ignored them, and Leila did her best to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut as it held its arms up to the sky. She always blitzed through any Darkside fight, dismantling them with familiar ease, and never had trouble beating them in a few minutes.

It never occurred to her that Darkside did more than fire a few balls of energy from its stomach hole and punch the ground.

Sora shouted, suddenly diving out in front of her and nearly getting his eyes gouged out by a Shadow's claws. After stomping its head in, Leila glanced over her shoulder to see that a small area of sand had been burnt black, probably where Sora was standing.

Looking up, Leila similarly had to dive out of the way as a small, black-on-red sphere nearly hit her in the head, conveniently landing by the wood pile. The sphere dissolved into the sand, a similar mark appearing where she once stood. If she looked a bit closer, she could see a few blackened grains rising into the air.

"Okay, hitting it doesn't do anything!" Sora called out, thwacking its shin. "What do we do _now?"_

"Not die?" Leila grabbed a short, half-burnt plank of wood and tried to stab its leg. Surprisingly, it went in a fair amount, but Darkside didn't even twitch in response. It swung its arms in wide arcs, driving them away, like swatting at flies.

Leila glanced at Sora out of the corner of her eye and saw his lips moving, but no sound coming out. She narrowed her eyes, as if that would help her, but he was completely inaudible. The pulses ringing out through the air had grown near-deafening, drowning out every sound around her. She looked up, nearly screaming when she saw the pulsing sphere of darkness almost eclipsing the entire sky, bearing down on the islands. The wind began to pick up around them, grains of sand flying up in streams and she ran for the wood pile. She found one plank still wedged into the sand, relatively unburnt compared to the rest, and held on for dear life.

Raising her free arm to protect her eyes, she saw Sora holding on to a palm tree's trunk. Darkside stumbled, feet lifting off the ground, and she could only watch, stunned, as its hulking form was pulled completely off the ground and into the sphere.

She screamed out Sora's name, but couldn't here it, over the pulses. She couldn't even tell if he could even hear it over the wind, as they were both holding onto their anchors to the ground desperately. Leila could feel her feet being lifted off the ground, and Sora wasn't much better, his feet already pointing at the sky, his fingers scrabbling at the tree trunk as he struggled to hold on.

With a snap, the wooden plank gave way, and Leila went flying up into the sphere. Sora was just below her, the palm tree ripped out of the ground by its roots and racing to meet her. Unable to move, Leila could only watch as the tree spun and slammed into her head, and the world went dark.

* * *

"DANCE WATER DANCE!" _Leila groaned as Data Demyx created ninety-nine water clones, popping an elixir before changing into Wisdom form. Tonight, she was determined to beat all of the data boss fights on Critical Mode, and she needed absolute concentration if she wanted even a chance at beating Demyx._

" _… _She's_ more of—of a _freak _than…"_ _Leila frowned and did her best to ignore the filtered bits of conversation that came through her headphones. Normally, her parents remained downstairs and watched TV, or ate dinner in the kitchen, but tonight, they decided to argue in the room directly next to the game room. Her headphones were pretty good quality, but even_ _the fast-paced battle music just barely drowned out their argument. Tonight, they decided to bring up everything wrong about her in the most indirect way possible in complete earshot of her._

 _Still, she had a Data Boss to beat, and she had to focus on that. Spamming blizzaga and the triangle button like a madman, Leila did her best to hit everything indiscriminately while strafing around the arena. Frankly, she was afraid she was going to break the controller with how hard she_ —

"… _wanted a delinquent for a daughter…!"_

 _Her thumb slipped off the joystick, and instead of barreling toward a cluster of water clones, she instead stayed still, wasting the last of her MP on thin air. Biting the inside of her cheek, Leila quit Wisdom form and immediately rushed into the fray, trying to kill all the clones before her precious ten seconds ran out._

"… _not the one who broke another nose!"_

 _With one clone left, Leila ran out of time. Sora screamed as he "died," despite the fact that nothing hit him, and she was brought to the game over screen. With a frustrated huff, Leila closed her eyes and thumped the back of her head against her chair, now fully able to hear every word her parents said in the ensuing silence._

 _In her opinion, in-school suspension would have been infinitely preferable to staying home. Sure, she wouldn't be able to do anything, but it was better than being around her parents. She was still a year too young to get her driver's license, and school wouldn't be out for another hour, at the least, which meant Grey couldn't save her. And, since she really had nothing to do in her Critical Mode save but beat the Data Organization XIII and Lingering Will, she couldn't focus and do anything productive with them yelling in the next room over._

" _I'm not going to take the heat for turning our daughter into a 'volatile disturbance,' as the principal so kindly put it." Her father shouted, and Leila stubbornly pulled up her hood, trying to drown out as much noise as possible. Yep, definitely couldn't beat Demyx right now, not with everything happening in the room directly next to her._

" _Well, what do you want me to do?" Her mother shouted back. "I certainly can't send her back and expect the entire school board to forget her violent streak. Do you honestly think she'll simply stop if we tell her to?"_

" _If the assholes at school stopped picking on me and Grey, I wouldn't have to punch anyone." Leila muttered under her breath. "And if you two were around more, you'd know who you're really supposed to be pointing fingers at._ _But_ nooo _,_ I'm _clearly the problem here!"_

" _She doesn't have a hope for doing anything at this rate!" Something thumped against the wall. "We can't move away, and sending her to a private school won't change a damn thing. She'll still be just as violent and aggravating as she is now."_

" _Never should have given her that damn gaming console. It's probably the whole reason why…" Leila gasped, drowning out the rest of her mother's sentence. She stood abruptly, turning off the PS4 and disconnecting every wire connected to the TV as silently as possible. If she was careful, she could sneak to her room, shove everything into a backpack, run out of the house and cut through the neighborhood to Grey's house without either of them noticing._

 _With most of the wires curled around the Playstation, a few CD cases in hand, and two controllers, Leila nudged the door open and tiptoed past her parent's door, running to her room the moment she was out of view._

 _She wasn't about to lose her one constant source of happiness over something as stupidly inconsequential as a freaking school fight because her parents said so. If they wanted to punish her, they should stick around longer than a few days every year._

* * *

"...la?" Something hit her shoulder, roughly shaking her. She groaned, but didn't move, wanting nothing more than to fall back asleep. Something warm and wet dragged along the back of her hand, and she tried to pull away, only to hiss in pain as her whole body ached. Once again, she was shaken, harder than before. "Leila!"

"'M up, 'm up…" She groaned, her arms shaking as she rolled over and pushed herself up until she was sitting, legs crossed, blearily blinking as she tried to make sense of everything around her. Her head pounded, and her whole body aching in time, especially around her face. Her vision was incredibly blurry, and holding her hand out in front of her face, she realized that it doubled and warped in time with her heartbeat, adding to her nausea.

"You okay, Leila?" Sora patted her shoulder and helped her lean against… a crate? She shook her head, immediately regretting the idea when that only made everything immediately worse.

"I'll _be_ okay. Just… gimme a minute here." Placing her hand against the crate, Leila pushed herself to her feet, stumbling before she managed to stand up straight. She touched her face, hissing as she pressed against a particularly sore spot. "Where are we?"

"Don't know. This dog woke me up," Leila managed to focus long enough to see a yellow dog sitting obediently at Sora's side, panting with its long tongue lolling out of its mouth. "And then I saw you laying on the ground, so I woke you up. I've never been to this part of the island before."

Leila looked around. They were in a dark, dimly lit alleyway. There was a brick building on her right, and a cobblestone wall to her left. There were a few wooden crates scattered around them, and a couple old flyers posted to the walls, but none of them gave any specific details.

Sora turned to the dog, leaning on his knees and gently scratching his head. Leila squinted her eyes, and let out a tiny gasp as she finally recognized Pluto. "Hey, boy, do _you_ know where we are?"

Pluto tilted his head, lifting one of his ears, whining, then turned and bolted down the alley towards the light. Leila jolted forward to run after him, only for her legs to nearly give out beneath her. Sora caught her, throwing her arm over his shoulder to support her weight. "What's wrong?"

"Don't know. Everything just feels… off." Leila tried to explain. "What about you? Are you hurt?"

"No, not really. I'm kinda sore and really freaked out but… I'm fine." Maybe Sora was just more used to physical strain than she was? Either way, they weren't going to be able to chase after Pluto, since she couldn't move much faster than a waddle. "Maybe you're messed up from the big bruise on your face."

"Oh, god, is there really?"

"Yyyep, it's sort of just… there." Leila watched Sora gesture at all of his face. "I think you got hit by the tree I was on, so you're lucky it's just a bruise."

With Sora supporting her, they made their way out of the alley, blinking at the new area in front of them. For all intents and purposes, it was a simple plaza, the ground layered with cobblestone brick and a few, decorate street lamps placed around. A few people milled around, but they were still in the alley, hidden in the shadows, so they were left alone.

"This is totally weird." Sora said. "I've never been to this part of the island before…"

Leila blinked incredulously, looking down at Sora. Sure, she hadn't been everywhere on the island in the span of a week, and even Sora probably hadn't explored every nook and cranny, but… did he really not get it? "Maybe we're not _on_ the island anymore."

Sora snapped his head up to look at her, eyes wide. "I mean, think about it. This is like when I woke up on the beach. Maybe—"

"We're on another world." Sora said with awe, and he looked at the plaza with a new point of view, taking in every little detail around him. "It's… not that different from home, actually."

"We'll probably find _something_ different, sooner or later." Leila looked around, smiling when she saw the neon green sign for the accessory shop. She straightened up as best as she could, tapping Sora's shoulder and pointing at the building. "C'mon, maybe someone in there will help."

Sora hummed and kept close, rushing over to support her, only to halt when she waved him off. She stumbled a bit, limping slightly as her legs un-stuck themselves, but she succeeded in hobbling over to the store on her own. Sora got the door for her, holding out his hand to wrap around her waist as she leaned on his shoulder, satisfied with the small bit of independence she'd regained.

The inside of the Accessory Shop was much brighter than outside, and Leila had to blink a few times for her blurry vision to right itself. The first floor looked like someone had shoved a jewelry store and a living room together. There was a fireplace, crackling with a low flame that kept the room warm. Off in the far corner sat a small, three cushion couch, with an equally long foot rest in front of it. Smack dab in the center of the room was a display case filled with necklaces, rings, earrings, and other small bits of jewelry.

However, what immediately caught her attention was Cid Highwind, standing behind a small, glass counter. His eyes, usually narrowed in anger, were wide as he looked at the two of them, the toothpick in his open mouth nearly falling out. "Ho-ly _shit._ What the hell did you two piss off to end up looking like that?"

Sora floundered, struggling to think of a way to explain what, exactly, happened to them. "Um…"

"You know what? Doesn't matter." Cid sighed and gestured at the couches. "Take a seat, get your bearings, and you can tell me all about it while I get you two a potion."

Not one to question others generosity, Leila nudged Sora towards the couches, gently sitting down on one end while Sora sat at the other. With her vision slowly improving and being in a well-lit area, Leila could see that Sora looked pretty roughed up. There were small scratches crisscrossing across the exposed parts of his arms and legs, along with a few knicks here and there on his face. The most concerning injury she could see was a large burn wrapping around the back of Sora's calve, the end of his shorts leg singed black.

Before she could say anything, Cid plopped down on the footrest, holding out two stout glass bottles with a glowing green star hovering in the center. "Here, drink up. It's on the house."

They each took a bottle, cautiously examining the contents. The liquid inside was a dark blue, with small clumps of glitter scattered throughout. No matter which way Leila twisted the bottle, the green star always seemed to face her, and always had one tip facing towards the ceiling. "What is it?"

"You never seen a potion before?" Cid asked, then scoffed, shaking his head. "Course you haven't, you're new here. Potions fix up all your injuries in a jiffy after you drink it. The only thing better than it is a good, heartfelt Cure."

Sora curled his lip up, holding it away from his face. "My mom told me to not take things from strangers."

Leila pinched her nose and threw the drink back, closing her eyes as she chugged. The potion was cold, but heated up to an oddly warm temperature once she swallowed it. It tasted sharp and medical, and Leila unconsciously tensed, waiting for the large star to hit the rim and try to enter her mouth.

That moment never came, however, and Leila downed the entire potion without difficulty. She licked her lips and coughed, holding the empty bottle in both hands as an involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Without warning, her vision sharpened, losing all its blurriness from before. Her head stopped pounding, and the dull aches and pains that she'd felt since waking up vanished. Surprised, Leila turned around to stare at her reflection in the display window behind her, the bruise that was there completely gone.

"Whoa." She whispered. "People back home would pay their life savings to have just one of those." Leila turned to Sora with a smirk. "You don't _have_ to drink it, y'know. Unless you want the scars to stick around."

Sora paled and quickly chugged the potion. Leila watched as the star in his potion had somehow dissolved to match how much potion was left, green energy swirling around as Sora visibly swallowed to drink it. Once he finished, Sora grimaced and coughed into his hand, holding out the bottle for Cid to take. Leila watched in morbid fascination as the burn on his leg healed itself, the outer edges shrinking as fresh, new skin took its place. In the span of a few seconds, the only evidence Sora had been injured was the singe on his pants.

"That was _gross."_ Sora whined, sticking out his tongue as if that would get rid of the taste sooner.

Leila's lips twitched, and she struggled to not laugh. Cid sighed and gently took Leila's bottle from her hands, gaze flicking between the two of them as they sat there. He leaned forward, plucking his toothpick from his lips and flicking it between his fingers. "Now, are the two of you gonna tell me how you got here?"

Sora quickly closed his mouth and looked at Leila. She sighed and bashfully met Cid's gaze. It should have been easy to explain, but looking at Cid, it felt like she was tongue tied. "We, uh… We sort of, just, showed up here like this?"

Cid sighed again. "Alrighty, if you aren't keen on telling me, then lemme take a guess. The day was goin' fine, up until a buncha monsters came and started destroying everything. Before you know it, you're waking up in the middle of town, roughed up, without a clue of where you are or how you got there. All you _do_ know is that somethin' went down. Am I close?"

Leila blinked. "Um… yeah, pretty much."

"Shoulda figured. Your story matches up with a lot of the other people around Traverse Town."

"Traverse Town, huh? Sora smiled gently. "So, gramps, is this really another world?"

"Don't call me gramps! My name's Cid!" The mechanic grumbled and crossed his arms. "And yeah, it is. Welcome, I guess."

Sora laughed, jumping to his feet and grabbing Leila's hands. "We're really on another world! Kairi, Riku and I have been wanting to explore other worlds for _so_ long, and now we're actually on one! Heck, Riku and Kairi are probably somewhere around here!"

Sora tried to pull her towards the door, only for Leila to pull her hands out of his grip. At his confused expression, she smiled gently. "I'm gonna talk to Cid a bit more. Why don't you talk the other people in the plaza, see if any of them have seen Kairi or Riku?"

Sora grinned and nodded, running out the door. Once it closed behind him, Leila glared at Cid. "You didn't tell him?"

"I'm not the best at being nice, kid. If I broke it to him, he'd probably yell and try to kick me where the sun don't shine." Cid chuckled sadly. "You'd have better luck than me kid, and if _you_ don't want to tell him your world is as good as dead, you should try to find Yuffie or Aerith to make them break the bad news."

Leila bit her lip and looked at the floor, crossing her arms. "He… It's not _my_ world, it's his. I just showed up out of nowhere and ended up hitching a ride, more or less."

"So, you lost your world before, huh?"

"I don't even know what happened. All I remember is playing some video games at home, and then… nothing. I wake up in a stranger's house, apparently after being rescued after nearly drowning. I'm the only link back he has left, and I barely count, so if I tell him that everyone he knew, everything back on the Islands is _gone,_ I just…"

"Don't want the kid to hate you?"

Leila laughed bitterly. "I don't think Sora can really _hate_ someone. I just don't want him to look at me like I personally ended his world."

"Can't argue with that." Cid laughed, and put the toothpick back in his mouth. "Tell ya what, once you're done looking around for your friends, come back here and I'll get you set up with a place to stay. There's an empty house in the Second District that the two of you can stay in, maybe find you a job so that you can get a steady income, the works."

Leila smiled, though she turned to face the door before Cid could see how her expression trembled. "We'd appreciate that. Thank you, Cid."

"No problem." Cid replied, and Leila left before she could say something that would ruin the moment.

Sora was easy to spot, his big yellow shoes and bright clothing standing out against the gentle yellow light of the plaza. He and another young boy were talking, with the latter shaking his head in response to something Sora said. Sora had a brief moment of looking dismayed before he saw Leila standing at the top of the stairs. A bright smile replaced his frown, and he took the steps two at a time to hurry to her side.

"Hey!" He called out in greeting. "So, I asked around, but no one's seen anyone like Kairi and Riku here. I was thinking we should walk around more, and see if anyone else around town's seen them."

Leila nodded, turning left to another set of stairs that would lead up to the Second District's entrance. "Shall we?"

Sora bumped her side with his elbow before running up the stairs, calling over his shoulder. "Race ya!"

"Sora, wait!" Leila called after him, racing after him when he went around the corner and out of her sight. "You don't know where you're going!"

* * *

 **AN:** _Guess who's back, back, back. Back again-gain-gain. Woodskeep's back, back, back. Tell a friend-end-end._

Lmao yeah I'm back baby! I tried out NaNoWriMo on a whim with zero planning and not for this fic, which was a bad idea, and I quickly dropped it to just start working on DBS again! Anyway, I'm sure most of you will be glad to hear that Chapter 5 is already half-written and picks up on some serious action. I hope I did the Darkside Bossfight justice, but I'll openly admit, I've been focused on a... different boss that's coming up ;)

I'm sorry if I didn't do Cid justice, btw. I only really know his personality from the KH games, and even then, there's not much to go on. I just... sort of assumed he was 'gruff dad figure who swears a bunch.'

But anyways, I'm back and continuing to chug along! Thank you all for reading!


	5. Rage, Rage Against

**CHAPTER 5: Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light**

" _Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." ― Christopher McDougall_

* * *

Second District was laid out almost exactly how Leila remembered it. On the upper level, there were a variety of shops to her right, selling everything from new shoes to 'mystic charms,' and a large hotel on her left. On the opposite end of the district stood a tall, impervious building with a brass bell affixed to the top, barely visible against the dark sky.

The lower level was an open area filled with people walking around and, to her surprise, put on street performances. There was a leading woman, dressed in a tight black dress, singing her heart out to an upbeat, yet slow song guitar song played by a man sitting behind her. The few people that stopped to watch would occasionally drop pieces of munni into the guitar case, or leave it at the singer's feet. A few were dancing in time to the music, grabbing a partner and swaying gently to the beat.

Honestly, out of everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours, the thing that shocked Leila the most was the sheer amount of _people_ in Traverse Town. In the game, Traverse Town really only had the few Final Fantasy characters, Merlin, the Fairy Godmother, and a handful of indistinct NPCs. Second and Third District were basically ghost towns, and existed for Sora to run through and slash at the Heartless, and she'd gotten used to seeing it so... empty. Seeing the town filled with people, to the point where Leila and Sora had to hold hands in order to not get separated, was giving her a weird form of culture shock—worse than anything she had while living with the Harutos on Destiny Islands.

"You know, you haven't even told me what Kairi and Riku look like." Leila spoke over the woman's singing and the general babble filling the District. Though she _did_ know what they looked like, it would probably be really weird if she recognized either of them without meeting them beforehand. "How can I help look if I don't even know who to look for?"

Sora stopped, and Leila nearly ran into him as he turned around. "Right, okay, so Kairi's a bit smaller than me, with red hair and blue eyes, and she has a purple skirt, and a pearl necklace from her dad. Riku's taller than me, and has silver hair, and bright blue eyes, and has a yellow shirt and big, poofy blue pants. Kairi is probably really scared, but Riku's probably really excited and happy."

The last two points didn't seem to be all that relevant to her question, but Sora grabbed Leila's hand and pulled her into the hotel before she could ask about it. The hotel was closer to how Leila remembered it: three doors on the bottom floor, two painted a light brown and one a bright red, and the reception desk further down the hall. The hotel was much calmer than the bustling area outside, though some ambient noise filtered through the thin walls. Regardless, it gave Leila a chance to breathe.

The two of them walked to the receptionist's desk, with Sora reaching up at tapping the bell resting on the counter. A few seconds passed before an Asian woman came to the counter, her straight black hair going past her shoulders. She smiled gently down at Leila and Sora and asked, "How may I help you?"

"We're looking for my friends, Kairi and Riku. Have you seen them?" Sora asked.

When the woman simply pursed her lips, Leila butted in. "Kairi's a small girl with red hair, and Riku's around my age with silver hair. Anyone matching that come through here?"

The receptionist shook her head. "I'm so—"

Outside, a bell was rung erratically, the toll deep and haunting. Leila and Sora glanced over their shoulder at the window, confused at where the sound was coming from. As if on cue, once the ringing stopped, a horde of people rushed in through the hotel's doors. While a few went into the red and light brown doors, a majority of them ran to the door furthest away from the entrance.

Leila watched them, confused, while Sora talked to the receptionist. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Do you have money for a room?"

"What?" The abrupt change in conversation pulled their attention back to the receptionist. She had visibly paled, and though her expression was mostly calm, there was a distinctly panicked look in her eyes. "Uh, I don't have any money on me. What about you, Leila?"

"Don't look at me, I left all my pocket change at the house." Leila met the receptionist's increasingly panicked gaze neutrally. "Why are you asking?"

"I-I'm sorry, I can't…" The receptionist backed away from the window, reaching for a button on the wall. "I can't—please, go home, find someplace to hide, _quick."_

"Why? What's going—" The receptionist pressed the button, and a metal shutter closed behind the window, cutting off Sora's question. "—on…?"

Leila looked around, the entire atmosphere of the hotel having changed in a matter of seconds. Sora huffed, tapping his foot against the ground. "Well that was pretty rude. Why'd she ask if we wanted a room when we said we were looking for Kai—"

"Shh." Leila whispered.

"Huh? Why, what's wro—"

" _Shh!"_ She covered Sora's mouth, holding her index finger up to her lips. "Do you hear that?"

Sora narrowed his eyes and gently pulled Leila's hand from his mouth. After a few seconds, he whispered back, "Hear what?"

"Exactly." There was no ambient noise from outside—no talking, no laughing, no singing or guitar music—and the only sound in the hotel was the small clock on the wall, ticking away. "Where did everyone go?"

Sora's eyes widened in comprehension, but before he could say anything, a loud scream came from outside. They both froze, terrified, before running out the hotel's doors and frantically looked around.

A man, dressed in a vest with a white shirt and brown draw pants ran past the entrance for District Two and turned left, towards Leila and Sora. He reached out with one hand as he panted. "Quick, run! Get away before they—!"

There was a clicking of metal, an odd growl unlike any animal Leila had ever heard before, and the man screamed again, falling to the ground. The back of his legs had been slashed at, red blood staining the brown fabric, but the man continued to drag himself across the ground. He didn't make it very far before a Soldier Heartless jumped on his back, its armor clanking as it danced before abruptly plunging its entire hand into the man's chest.

Leila covered her mouth, holding back a scream as the man choked and flailed, the life fading from his eyes as the Heartless pulled a crystalline heart from his chest. The Soldier danced merrily before it flicked its helmet back, a large, fanged mouth appearing as it swallowed the heart whole. Before their very eyes, the man's body faded from existence, and the Soldier jumped down into the open area and ran away. The only evidence that the man had ever existed were the bloodstains on the cobblestone.

"W-Wha…" Leila tried to stay. That… that hadn't happened in the game! If it had, Leila was damn sure she'd remember it, because that had to be the most gruesome thing she'd ever seen.

Before she could think about what had happened in any more detail, Shadow Heartless began popping up from the ground in front of them, making familiar chittering noises as they twitched. Leila lowered her hands from her mouth, getting into a vague fighting pose as she glanced at Sora. "Think we can handle these guys?"

"No problem!" Sora smirked, though it looked forced. He crouched down, flicking his wrist and…

Nothing happened.

He looked down at his hands and shook them, eyes narrowing with concentration, only to grunt in frustration. "C'mon!"

Leila glanced over her shoulder and, seeing no Shadow Heartless behind them, stepped in front of Sora. "What's wrong?"

Sora didn't answer, continuing to grunt and mutter under his breath. The Shadow Heartless started to advance, heads twisting left and right, and Leila felt her Sora tug at her jacket. "I can't summon the Keyblade."

" _What?"_ Leila whispered harshly, trying to keep from screaming.

"I can't—I don't know _why,_ it's not working!"

Well… that was definitely a problem.

Leila kept her eyes on the Shadow Heartless. So far, there were five, but there could be more ready to pop up at a moment's notice. "Okay, here's the plan—"

"You have a _plan?"_

"It's very dangerous and not thought out at all, but yes, there is a plan." Leila held out her arm and took a step back, then another, forcing Sora to move with her. "Are there any behind us?"

"No, not yet."

"Okay…" So far, Traverse Town was basically identical to the game's depiction, if she ignored the multitude of people and the additional side alleys she'd seen while walking around with Sora. That meant that the Gizmo Shop's entrance was directly behind them, and they could keep a door between them and the Heartless while they cut through and made their way to Third District, and then through the large double doors back to First. "Here's the plan: we turn and run for it."

" _That's_ the plan?"

"I never said it was a good plan!" Leila retorted, pushing Sora another step back. "Look, we either run for it or we try and stick around and fight them with our bare hands which, as I can tell you from personal experience, doesn't work that well. What would you prefer?"

"...On three we run?"

Leila smiled. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" They shouted simultaneously as they turned and ran, the Heartless' claws clicking against the cobblestone as they gave chase. Running up a small set of stairs, Leila grabbed Sora's arm turned right, forcing open a pair of double doors to the blinding interior of the Gizmo Shop. They slammed the doors shut, leaning against them as if that would help keep the Heartless at bay.

Leila sighed, sinking to the ground in relief and exasperation. What the hell was happening? From what she remembered, the scene with the man was just him falling to the ground and his Heart appearing above him, with the Soldier Heartless appearing afterwards. Along with that, Sora should have been able to summon his Keyblade without any trouble, and handling those Shadows should have been a breeze.

"I guess we know why everyone went inside now." Sora commented, pushing off the door and holding out his hand, twisting it around and flicking his wrist a few times. "Come _on,_ how do I get it back?"

"How'd you get it the first time?" Leila asked.

"I sort of just… had it. It was after Riku disappeared…" Sora frowned and closed his eyes and stayed motionless for a few seconds. With a groan of frustration, Sora sagged and lowered his head. "It's no use, I can't figure out how to get it back."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Leila forced herself to her feet, patting his back. "It just means we have to be careful until you figure out how, okay?"

Sora nodded, picking himself back up. "Alright. So, where do we go from here?"

"First step is finding another door to leave from. I don't think we want to walk out into the middle of an angry horde." Leila walked away from the door, looking around. The Gizmo shop was as bright and garishly colored as she remembered; blinding yellow and orange wallpaper and pastel pink tile floor, and then the loud whistling and clanking from the various machines around them. Really, the building looked like an avant-garde artist took coloring advice from a two year old.

...Actually, now that she thought about it, the Gizmo Shop was probably the most Disney-like building in Traverse Town. Weird.

"Uh, Leila?" Sora's voice trembled, and she turned around, nearly choking on her own breath as she saw Shadow Heartless sunk into the floor, crawling out from underneath the doors and skittering around like cockroaches. A pair rose up, essentially blocking Sora off from Leila, twitching sporadically as they eyed their prey.

"Okay, apparently they don't care about doors. Good to know." Leila muttered, pulling her knee back and soccer punting the nearest Heartless. It let out a little scream and, to her surprise, disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sora smirked and did the same, kicking the Heartless in its stomach and into one of the machines behind Leila. The Heartless, though temporarily stunned by the impact, survived and growled at Sora before leaping at him, claws extended.

Sora dodged out of the way just in time, the Heartless' claws brushing through his hair. Not pausing to talk, the two ran through the Gizmo Shop, more Shadow Heartless popping up around their feet. Given how small the room was, they made it to another door pretty quickly, with Sora pushing through first and looked around, while Leila closed the door and held them shut, watching the floor for the Shadow Heartless to creep through.

"We can't take this ladder, it's too wobbly for the both of us to climb at the same time." Sora said. "There's a few doors down there, but they're probably locked."

Shadowy claws began to peak from underneath the door, and Leila abandoned her position, grabbing Sora's wrist and running down the alley. "Then we do what we do best!"

The alley led to the lower area of District Two, which had been left in a hurry, if the abandoned music equipment and guitar case were anything to go by. Leila kept close to the left wall, where another alley would _hopefully_ lead to Third District, if the layout continued to match what she remembered.

Before they could turn again, more Shadow Heartless rose from the ground, blocking off their escape route. Leila skidded to a stop and Sora crashed into her back, nearly knocking them both down. The Heartless in front of Leila saw the opportunity being handed to them and lunged, claws outstretched to claw at her face.

With barely any time to react, Leila threw her arms up in front of her face, the Heartless' claws slashing through the sea-crusted fabric and clawing at her arms. They tried to drag her down to the ground, but Leila pulled back, wincing as the action drew more blood. "Get _off!"_

"Leila!" Sora shouted, and there was the sound of shattering glass before the Kingdom Key cut the two Shadows in half. Crystal hearts, like the one that Soldier ate before, floated gently into the air before disappearing.

Now free, Leila pulled her arms close to her chest, the cuts deep and oozing blood. She wouldn't be able to punch anything with her arms like this, but she could still kick the Heartless into submission. While Sora shouted and charged the ones above ground, Leila went after the ones sunk into the ground and punted them when they rose, keeping an eye out for any that were trying to sneak up on them.

Slowly but surely, they chipped away at the horde that never seemed to end. When Second District was _finally_ clear of Heartless, they were both panting and covered in a new collection of scratches. The silence in the air felt tense and oppressive now, and Leila couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching her every movement.

She jumped when Sora ran up next to her, pulling one of her arms away and looking at the deep cuts circling her forearms. She winced, more upset that her sleeves were completely ruined, torn and bloodstained as they were. Sora pressed his lips together and looked away, the expression so pitiful that Leila couldn't help but feel bad. "What's wrong?"

Sora pouted. "You got hurt, all because I couldn't get this—" Sora held up the Kingdom Key, shaking it slightly so that the keychain jingled merrily. "—back sooner."

Leila blinked, then smiled, making sure the cuts were covered before she reached up and ruffled Sora's hair. "Hey, c'mon now, it's not that bad compared to what we woke up with. Besides, now that you've got the Keyblade back, we can rip the Heartless to shreds if they come after us again."

The little inspirational speech she made didn't seem to lift Sora's spirits, but he gave her a bright smile regardless and put his hand behind his head, tapping the Keyblade against the cobblestone. "So, where do we go from here?"

Leila shrugged. Exploring further seemed like a bad idea, all things considered, and with her arms temporarily out of commission due to her injuries, she doubted she'd be able to hold her own just by kicking. Plus, even _if_ Riku and Kairi had arrived in Traverse Town, they most likely would have been shoved indoors, rather than left to fend for themselves like she and Sora had. "Maybe Cid's shop is still open? We can hide out there until the coast is clear."

" _And_ he can patch us up." Sora nodded, reaching to grab her wrist, only to stop at the last minute. Instead, he held out his hand and, with a slight smile, Leila took it and let Sora lead the way back to First District. They moved slowly, if only so that they wouldn't accidentally run into a Heartless if it popped up from the floor. "Hey, since we have some down time, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you so good at kicking the monsters?"

Leila snorted, struggling to hold back a laugh. "Back home, we had a sport called soccer that I played when I was younger. It's nothing but running and kicking a ball around, and over the years of playing, I got really, _really_ good at it."

Sora chuckled, a comfortable yet tense silence settling between them. Both of them were still keyed up from the fight and waiting for another horde to pop up around them. Sora held the Kingdom Key in his right hand, the keychain jingling merrily between them, refusing to dismiss it. Thankfully, they made it to the door to First District without any incident, and the door swung open and shut with ease.

First District, just like Second District, had been completely vacated of any signs of life. The only real consolation was that the streets seemed better lit than before, the street lamps now glowing bright yellow light instead of the low orange hue that cast long shadows across the street from before. Rounding the corner that lead to the plaza, Sora broke the silence. "You think we can keep the monsters from popping up?"

Leila hummed. As far as she could remember, the Heartless just… appeared. Whenever a person lost their Heart, a Heartless formed from the person's darkness (or, as demonstrated earlier, another Heartless would simply eat the Heart). There wasn't a guaranteed method to completely eradicate them, but… given that Birth By Sleep didn't _have_ Heartless as enemies, that implied that there was a time period in which they didn't exist in the Realm of Light, so… "Maybe? I mean, they have to come from _somewhere,_ right?"

"Yeah, but from _where?"_

"Everywhere, anywhere, and nowhere."

Leila and Sora jumped, both of them looking to the center of the plaza to see none other than Squall Leonhart leaning on one of the central light posts. Leila gulped, her anxiety skyrocketing when she saw the hilt of his gunblade peeking over his shoulder. She didn't know whether to pull Sora back and run into the Accessory Shop or stand her ground.

Dammit, and she was _really_ hoping to talk to Cid before having to fight Leon. Drinking the potions earlier had helped heal their injuries from the island, but it hadn't done anything to give them a boost in energy. She and Sora were basically operating on no sleep and very little rest in between fighting Darkside and arriving in Traverse Town. She hoped that Cid would be nice enough to let them stay a while before they headed out, and that Leon wouldn't find them beforehand.

Welp, there went _that_ hope. Wonderful.

"Who're you?" Sora shouted, moving into a defensive position.

Leon ignored the question, pushing off the light post and rolling his neck. "No matter where you go, they'll keep on coming at you, so long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."

Leon's impassive expression hardened, his lips quirking downwards. Leila preemptively stepped in front of Sora, partially blocking him from Leon's line of sight. "But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sora said indignantly

"Never mind." Leon shook his head and started walking towards the staircase, reaching out with his hand. "Now, let's see that Keyblade."

Leila clenched her hands into fists and bent her knees, glaring at Leon. She knew there was probably a peaceful way to handle the situation, but she doubted Leon _or_ Sora would want to back down. Plus, she noticed that Sora hadn't dismissed the Keyblade, and if he was still having trouble summoning it, letting Leon grab it wasn't going to do any of them any favors. "You'll have to go through me to get it."

Sora's keychain jingled behind her, and he moved to stand next to her, taking up a familiar crouch. "There's _no way_ you're getting this!"

Leon paused mid-stride. He sighed and grabbed his gunblade and pulled it from its sheath, resting it on his shoulder. "All right then, have it your way."

Before either of them could move, Leon leapt forward, completely jumping over the stairs as he brought the heavy blade down in an overhead slash. Leila and Sora split apart to avoid the blow, with Sora falling into a roll to gain more distance. The blade hit the ground with a mighty _crack,_ the cobblestone splintering as a long crack ran from the blade to the stairs they just came down.

Leila only had a moment to register this and think, _wow better not get hit,_ before Leon recovered and ran at Sora, swinging his gunblade in wide but quick arcs. Sora stumbled to his feet, managing to block Leon's strikes, but just barely. More than once, Leila thought Leon would knock Sora to the ground and decapitate him.

Leila ran up to both of them, jumping on Leon's back in an attempt to throw him off, her arms burning due to the sudden strain. He barely reacted to her, only faltering for a moment before continuing his assault on Sora. She couldn't tell if it was because she barely weighed anything to him, or that he considered Leila nothing more than a minor nuisance compared to Sora.

Either way, both reasons pissed her off, and she was going to show him just _why_ she shouldn't be ignored. Managing to get a hand free without losing her grip, Leila grabbed a fistful of Leon's stupid, long hair and pulled. Leon hissed and stepped back, reaching up with his free hand to try and force her to let go. With Leon being wide open, Sora took the opportunity to kick Leon in the crotch. _Hard._

Leon wheezed, bending over and nearly dropping his sword. Leila threw her body weight forward, causing Leon to fall on his front. She scrambled off of him and went to Sora's side, resuming her protective stance from before.

Sora laughed, and Leila shot a glare over her shoulder. "Don't get cocky."

"Why? We got him on his last legs!"

"He isn't done yet."

"Yeah he is!"

"No he _isn't."_

"I'm _pretty_ sure he is."

"No," Sora and Leila looked back to see Leon back on his feet, pointing the gunblade at them. "I'm not."

The gunblade fired, the recoil throwing it back to rest on Leon's shoulder. Leila felt something hit her shoulder, and she was knocked off her feet by the force. The world slowed around her. There was a brief flash of pain, like a sharp pebble digging into her skin, a dull buzz traveling up her chest, down her arm.

Then she fell to the ground, the shoulder that got hit cushioning her fall. The world sped up in an instant, the pain in her arm increasing exponentially. The dull buzz rose to a roar of agony and Leila _screamed,_ gritting her teeth and hoping that would somehow dull the pain.

"Leila!" Sora shouted, barely audible over her pulse pounding in her ears. He yelled wordlessly, and Leila heard the sound of metal hitting metal, grunting, shoes scuffing against cobblestone. Holding her shoulder and trying to ignore the nauseating feeling of her blood staining her shirt and pooling on the ground beneath her, Leila managed to roll onto her good side. Breathing through her teeth, she watched Sora try to take Leon down. He moved fast, but his strikes were jerky and brutal compared to Leon's calm and collected style. They danced around each other, Sora pushing him away while Leon blocked and dodged with ease, occasionally slashing at Sora and adding on to the various cuts they got from running from the Heartless earlier.

Leon's expression, previously unbothered, became hardened. He jumped back, putting some distance between him and Sora. Holding up his free hand, Leila watched as a ball of fire formed and crackled menacingly before he chucked it at Sora.

He didn't even have time to lift the Keyblade up before the fireball hit him square in the chest, exploding on impact. Sora was thrown back, skidding across the ground and falling limp, smoke and embers rising from his prone body.

Leila tasted bile in the back of her throat. She knew, in the game, the first fight with Leon ended with Sora getting knocked out or passing out from exhaustion. She was hopeful that they'd end up winning or, at the very least, getting out pretty unscathed. After all, this was Kingdom Hearts; how bad could the battle be?

But this wasn't a game. Everything happening around was painfully, gruesomely real. The man who got attacked by the Soldier was real; Sora, laying on the ground passed out, potentially suffering from extreme burns, was real; the wounds on her arms and the bullet in her shoulder was _real._ Nothing here was scripted—a simple misstep, a wrong word said, encouraging one thing and not another, could lead to everything going wrong.

And she did _nothing._ She hadn't stopped the fight, she hadn't done anything to Leon to stop him, she didn't pay attention and got shot. She made Sora charge in recklessly, which made him not think, and lead him to fight stupidly and get hurt. All she did was make the fight easier for Leon.

No wonder he didn't bother with her, she was just dead weight.

Leon holstered his gunblade and bent down, pulling the Kingdom Key from Sora's hand. He turned the it over and held it up to the light, examining it, completely oblivious as Leila breathed through her teeth and pushed herself to her feet. She wobbled, spots appearing in her vision as she did her best to stay upright. Keeping her injured arm as close to her chest as possible, Leila rushed at Leon with a furious scream. She pulled her uninjured arm arm back and curled her blood-stained fingers into a fist, the buzz of adrenaline the only thing keeping her on her feet.

Leon glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, his expression falling into something resembling panic before she slammed her fist into his stomach. To her surprise, Leon _flew_ back, his back slamming into the wall and he fell to the ground, winded.

Leila, however, could only stare at her arm. From the elbow down, her arm had been wrapped in a thick, black mass. Thin purple lines pulsed with a faint, glowing light in time with her heartbeat. Her fingers had lengthened, and were tipped with sharp, neon purple claws that glowed slightly and left a faint trail of light when she moved them. Aside from a slight thrum deep in her bones, almost as if there was an electric current running through her, the limb felt completely normal.

She jerked her head up when she heard Leon groan, seeing his arms shake as he began to push up off the ground, glaring at her with contempt. Whimpering, Leila took a step back, then stopped as she realized that if she ran, she would be abandoning Sora. She couldn't pick him up, not with a busted arm and her entire body running on fumes and her legs shaking beneath her.

With fear pulsing through her body, Leila stepped over Sora's unconscious form―

And made a choked sound as something jabbed her neck, her vision whiting out as she fell unconscious.

* * *

 **AN:** Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for reading!


	6. Keys and Claws

**CHAPTER 6: Keys and Claws**

 _"Explain to me how you having a problem with me is my problem..." ― Dan Pearce_

* * *

Waking up the second time that day, Leila nearly gagged at the leather taste that filled her mouth. Her entire body buzzed, like she'd been charged with electricity, making her head feel disconnected and floaty. She took a deep breath through her nose, squeezed her already shut eyes, and struggled to open them.

"You shot a goddamn _kid,_ Squall!" A slam from nearby caused her to flinch, and the static buzz in her body faded for the sharp stab of pain in her shoulder. She could distinctly feel her legs stretched out in front of her, and her arms behind her back, tied together. Keeping her eyes closed, Leila did her best to ignore the pain in her shoulder and keep quiet, not wanting to alert anyone that she was awake.

"It's Leon."

"I don't give a shit what you're calling yourself nowadays, it doesn't change what you did to a pair of kids."

"Cid, her arm changed and she punched Leon into a wall. There's no way she's not a Heartless." Said someone with a higher voice.

"Or something _worse."_ Leon emphasized. "What if she's the reason why there are Heartless hordes crawling through the town? We haven't had an attack as large as this one in over a year, right before we fortified everything."

"And _I'm_ telling _you_ that these two came into my shop, beat to hell and back, and were a pair of scared kids who didn't know up from down 'round here." Leila winced, Cid's loud voice making the slight headache he had worse. Breathing heavily, Leila managed to crack her eyes open, only to immediately shut them at the bright light in… wherever she was, she didn't get a good look. "They joked with each other, they laughed, then they went to look for their friends hoping they made it out alive. And what do you do? You went and threw a fireball at the brat―and you're god damn _lucky_ he didn't get third degree burns you lil' shit―and shot the kid in the shoulder!"

"And for all you know, that girl might be the reason they ended up here in the first place." Leon's impassive tone cut down Cid's argument. "Cid, you don't get it, her arm became wrapped in _darkness._ A normal girl wouldn't have been able to do that."

"And a normal boy wouldn't use that stupid gunblade against the very same people he promised to protect!" A heavy silence settled in the room, and Leila tried opening her eyes again, prepared for the assault of light. "You've changed from that little kid I watched grow up on Radiant Garden, Squall."

Leila had to blink a few times to clear her vision, but the interior of the Accessory Shop eventually came into focus. She'd been propped against the side of the counter, but her legs were tied together at the ankles with a belt, so she couldn't get up and look around. Leon, Cid, and the third person that had talked before were all behind her, completely out of sight.

When Leon spoke, his voice was unnervingly devoid of emotion. "You didn't see what we saw."

"And right now, I don't give a damn. We've got two injured kids, one hogtied with a bullet wound and who knows what else while the other's knocked the hell out and covered in soot." Cid sneered. Leila heard the floorboards creak, and a drawer slide open. "Here's what's going to happen: _you two_ are going to stand over there by the brat and check for any severe injuries besides the burns, feed him one of your potions, and wait for him to wake up. I'm going to take a look at the kid while she's still out of it, and try to see what I can do."

"You aren't untying her, not until we figure out what she is."

 _"I_ will do whatever I damn well please." Cid sneered, and Leila heard the floorboards creak as everyone moved. Heavy, plodding footsteps signaled Cid's arrival, and when he turned the corner, she saw his eyes widen before his whole body sagged. He drew closer and kneeled in front of her, his gruff demeanor changing into something gentler, his voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. "You doing okay, kid?"

Leila glared and frowned as best as she could with the belt in her mouth. Cid chuckled and pulled her jacket and shirt collar to the side, eyes narrowing as he looked at her shoulder. "Yeah, I doubt Leon's belt tastes good."

Leila made a disgusted noise and pushed at the belt with her tongue, trying to get it out. Cid reached up with his free hand and flicked her forehead. "Cut that out. It's not his _belt_ belt, it's one of those stupid extra ones around his arm. The other two are keeping you tied up."

 _That doesn't make it any better!_ Leila thought as Cid gently pulled her forward, making it hard to breathe, but otherwise not aggravating her shoulder. Cid hissed and pushed her back so that she could lean against the counter again, looking at the wound. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" Came the third voice from behind the counter.

"No exit wound." Leila's eyes widened and she tensed under Cid's grip. "I can't give her the potion while it's still in her shoulder."

"You were planning on giving her a potion?" Leon said incredulously.

Cid rolled his eyes and placed the potion on the floor besides her before standing up, going to the back of the shop again. "I need to get the bullet out before I do anything else."

Leila felt the blood drain from her face, nearly missing the sympathetic hiss from further back in the room. Craning her head as much as much as possible without moving her shoulder, she could see a brown stain around a ripped hole in her shirt, but the fabric covered the actual wound. "You'll want to take care of that before she wakes up."

"Too late for that." Cid groused, loud enough for Leila to hear. Then, "God dammit, Leon, don't you dare―!"

Leila flinched when Leon came into her line of vision, gunblade drawn and a furious glint in his eyes. Leila flinched and tried to inch away, only to wince as her bound hands caught on the counter's wall and jostled her shoulder.

Cid, thankfully, shoved Leon out of the way and kneeled in front of her, growling over his shoulder, "Unless you're going to help me keep her still while I pull the bullet out, stay with Yuffie by the couch."

Leila tried to look at Leon while Cid took her jacket off, but his larger body blocked him from her sight. She gasped sharply when his fingers dragged against her skin, pulling at the wound and sending a spike of pain down her arm. Cid shushed her and held up a pair of tweezers, examining the wound closer. "I know, I know, this is gonna sting like a bitch, but I have to get it out before I can give you the potion."

"You're _seriously_ going to heal her?" Leon asked.

"Look, I don't need any backseat commentary while I'm doing this. Either shut up and sit down, or get over here and help me." Despite saying that, Cid placed his hand on her collarbone and pushed her back against the counter, her arms squished between it and her body. Leila yelped as the tweezers brushed against the wound, a spike of pain causing her to arch her back and throw Cid off.

Though his hand didn't budge, Cid pulled the tweezers away, cursing under his breath. "Kid, I _know,_ but you can't move while I'm doing this. If a potion could get the bullet out, I'd give it to you and quit fussing around, but it doesn't."

Leila whimpered in an attempt to apologize, only to freeze and tense up as Leon walked around Cid, placing one hand on her uninjured shoulder and the other on her stomach. "This help?"

Cid stared at him before hesitantly nodding, pushing harder against Leila's collarbone. Biting down on the belt in her mouth, Leila moaned lowly as Cid poked around her shoulder, then screamed as he jostled something. As Cid slowly pulled the tweezers back, Leila began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks and collecting on the belt.

"There we go, kid, there we go," Cid murmured, and the tweezers were finally pulled from her shoulder. Leila sobbed and fell limp, hanging her head and watching as her tears plopped into her lap. "Take that gag off while I get rid of this."

"What?" Leon asked, pulling his hands off her body, uncaring of how she sagged forward, completely devoid of strength.

"She can't exactly drink a potion with a belt in her mouth, can she?" Cid's heavy steps plodded away from her, and Leila heard Leon sigh and mumble something indistinct under his breath.

Leila couldn't help but flinch when Leon's gloved hand brushed against her face. Leon paused, then pulled at the belt, ignoring the annoyed grunt she made as the leather pulled at her dry lips. He fiddled with the buckle and gently pulled it out of her mouth, flicking the saliva off it and making a disgruntled noise as he held it up in the air. "That's not getting used again."

"Ah, quit your bitching. You probably have twenty more of them back at your apartment." Cid reappeared with an uncorked potion in hand. Brushing Leila's hair from her face, he held the bottle up to her lips, tilting it so she could drink without her hands. "I take it that, since you came rushing over here out of the goodness of your heart, the brat doesn't have any injuries?"

"Nope, he's A-Okay!" The third voice called out―Yuffie, probably.

Finishing off the potion, Leila licked her lips and coughed, hunching over. Cid sighed and patted her gently on the shoulder, careful not to jostle her too much. "You doing better now, kid?"

Leila nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, that…" She laughed, but it sounded like a sob. "That sucked."

Leon grunted and stood up, circling around the counter and heading to the back of the shop. Cid rolled his eyes and put his hand on her back. "Scoot forward a bit, I wanna get these damn belts off you."

Inching forward, Cid reached behind her and fiddled with the buckle, cursing under his breath when he couldn't immediately untie her. With a sudden jerk, Leila's arms fell apart, and she brought them in front of her to massage her wrists. Cid repeated what he did with the belt around her ankles and, once she was completely untied, she hesitantly shifted onto her knees and pushed herself up to hesitantly stand.

Leon had taken up his 'classic' position of leaning against the wall, eyes narrowed in a glare, though she couldn't tell if it was aimed at her or Cid. Yuffie sat on the line of footrests, looking over her shoulder at them, the Keyblade resting on her lap. However, what grabbed her attention the most was seeing Sora laying on the couch, the top half of his jumpsuit and most of his jacket visibly burnt. Leila rounded the counter and started walking over to the back corner. "So―"

Leon pushed off the wall and drew his gunblade before she could make it to the display case in the center of the room. Leila stopped, swallowing as he pointed his weapon directly at her, lips pressed together. "You're staying over there."

Cid huffed and looked like he wanted to say something, but Leila took a step back before he could, hands raised. "Okay, that's fine. Just don't shoot me again."

"Scared I won't miss?"

"Honestly? I just don't want to repeat that whole bullet removing thing again if you do." Leila frowned and sat on the counter, much to Cid's ire, if his expression was anything to go by. "Is he _really_ okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry! The fire spell was pretty weak, he probably just got knocked out from the force of the explosion." Yuffie responded with a faint smile. "Still, it is pretty weird that you woke up before him."

"I'm not surprised." They all gave her a confused look, and Leila shrugged. "Sora could probably sleep through the sun exploding, and I get startled awake by anything, even a mouse squeaking. Plus, we haven't really had any chances to rest."

"Well, you _kinda_ got to sleep a bit." Yuffie awkwardly said, rubbing the back of her neck. "If you count being unconscious as sleeping."

Leila rolled her eyes and turned to look at the display case, propping her chin up with her hands. A tense silence settled in the room, only to be broken when Leon let out a disgruntled sigh. "Tell us what happened _before_ you wound up in Traverse Town."

"There's not much to say―" Leon flicked the gunblade, the cylinder clicking as it spun wildly. Instead of having the panicked, terrified reaction he might have been hoping for, Leila glared at him and crossed her arms. "Relax, would you? I just meant that there wasn't some epic battle to the death. We more or less got ripped away while trying not to die."

"You can tell us about that, then."

Leila clenched her jaw, tempted to not say anything just to piss him off. However, looking down the edge of Leon's gunblade, Leila felt a shiver go down her spine as her shoulder muscles twitched fitfully. With a disgruntled expression, Leila recounted what happened, starting with chasing after Sora through the heavy rainfall and ending with stumbling to the Accessory Shop and meeting Cid. While Leon remained impassive, silently judging her, Yuffie's expression was practically an open book.

When she finished, Leon lowered his gunblade and leaned against the wall with a scoff. "And what about before?"

"Before what?"

"Before the storm. How many Heartless were there? Were there any odd sightings, or reports of monsters in the area?"

"I don't know, I lived there for a week. I sort of worked at a bookstore, but I never really heard any monster gossip when I stocked the shelves." Leila fiddled with a loose strand of her hair. "Maybe Sora heard something? He got out a lot more than I did, and the kids might've seen something they didn't tell the adults. As far as I know, the islands were as close to normal as you could get."

"And we're supposed to believe you?"

Leila rolled her eyes. "No, because if I really was an evil being hellbent on destroying all worlds, I would _totally_ lie to you about the Heartless population of a destroyed world. Makes _complete_ sense! I can't see _any_ flaws in your logic whatsoever."

Leon pushed off the wall, his gunblade still lowered but his entire body tense and ready to rush her. "Look―"

"Hey, hold on a sec!" Yuffie rose from the footrests and stood in Leon's path, the Kingdom Key left on the footrest. "We can double check her story with Sora."

"Who is still unconscious."

"Well, all we gotta do is…" Yuffie bent over and roughly shook Sora's shoulder, shouting, "Come on, you lazy bum, wake up!"

Sora slowly sat up with a groan, blinking dazedly as he looked around the Accessory Shop. Leila covered her mouth with her hands to hide her smile at the sight. She had to wake up Sora a few times while she lived with him, and she knew he struggled to wake up no matter how much sleep he got. This was nothing new to her.

Cid, on the other hand looked concerned. "Y'know, when I said to look him over for more injuries, you were supposed to check for concussions, too."

"I did check! He didn't have any bumps or bruises." Yuffie glanced at Cid before turning back to Sora. "You okay?"

"I… guess?" Sora rubbed the back of his neck and squinted his eyes shut, a weird glaze to his eyes.

"Yuffie, for the love of god, _double check_ that he doesn't have a concussion." Cid growled.

"Alright, alright!" Yuffie huffed and put the Keyblade down on the footrest, holding a finger up in front of Sora's face. "Okay, Sora? I need you to follow my fin―"

Sora lurched forward and hugged Yuffie, squeezing her closer. Leila made a choked snort and clamped her hands over her mouth, struggling to not to laugh at the oddly affectionate display. Everyone stared at Sora in shock. "I'm _so_ glad you're okay, Kairi."

There was a pause, then Yuffie laughed awkwardly, gently pulling Sora's arms away from her. "I… think you have me confused for someone else. _I_ am the great ninja Yuffie!"

Yuffie made a peace sign and stuck out her tongue, tilting her head and winking at Sora. He blinked confusedly and rubbed at his head, his nose scrunched up. Leila laughed and hunched over, her forehead touching her kneecaps, trying to calm down. On Leila's right, Cid let out his typical sigh. "Yep, concussion. Good going Squall."

"It's _Leon."_ Leila lifted her head at Leon's frown, still struggling to hide her smile. Sora's eyes finally cleared, looking at Yuffie's face onto the Keyblade. He reached out to grab it, but Yuffie smacked his hand away before he could. "Don't touch that."

"Why?" Sora glared at Leon. "Last I checked, it was mine, and you knocked me out just to take it!"

"Well, we kinda had to." Yuffie shrugged and picked up the Keyblade, throwing it up and down in her hand. "The Heartless were tracking you through this, so if we took it away from you, we could shake them off our trail."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them, but it won't work for long." Leon grabbed the Keyblade's handle in midair, holding it out and examining it. "Still hard to believe that you, of all people, are the chosen one."

With a flash of light, the Keyblade disappeared from Leon's hand and reappeared in Sora's, who smiled as he held it close. Leon closed his eyes and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Why don't you answer―"

"Leon." Cid interrupted, drawing everyone's attention to him. "The kids've been running around the whole town scared out of their mind. They don't even know what _Heartless_ are."

"So?"

"So, cut 'em some slack and answer their questions. I doubt you're going to hear anything different from the brat―" Sora let out a very offended _"Brat?"_ when he heard Cid's nickname for him. "―and they have a right to know what's out to kill 'em."

Leon stayed still for a few seconds before sighing and crossing his arms once more. "Fine, then. Let's fill you in."

As Leon and Yuffie began talking, Leila rolled her neck and looked down at her hands, thinking back on the fight with Leon. She curled her fingers and made a fist, flipped her hands over and looked at the back. She didn't know what happened when she fought Leon, and… she didn't know if she wanted it to happen again. As far as she could tell, the arm that changed was fine, and it made her _ridiculously_ strong, which she would need when dealing with the Heartless.

But, at the same time, Leon and Yuffie had a point. Her hand had been wrapped in darkness, and that certainly wasn't a natural change. If her body could change like this whenever she… was attacked? Felt angry? Wanted to protect someone? Regardless, if her body could change, why was this the first time this happened? She'd gotten in plenty of schoolyard fights before―sometimes she beat them black and blue, and other times she got her ass handed to her―and nothing odd happened then.

 _Maybe it's… just because I'm in a fantasy world?_ Leila shook her head, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets. Even if that was the _reason_ why, it didn't explain how it happened, and why it was darkness that she could use. Darkness typically wasn't the best thing to have in the world of Kingdom Hearts, and it often led to anything on the spectrum to 'your heart gets consumed' to 'death'. Frankly, she didn't know which one was worse.

"Wait a minute!" Leila jolted out of her dark thoughts when Sora shouted, having stood from the couch and looking implorably at Leon and Yuffie. "What happened to my home? My island? Mom, Riku, Kairi?"

"You know what?" Leon looked away. "I really don't know."

Leila bit her lip and sighed, letting the heavy silence settle in the room. Sora's dejected expression spoke volumes, and he tightened his hold on the Keyblade, glaring down at it. There wasn't anything anyone could say to make him feel better, least of all Leila. She couldn't tell Sora where Riku and Kairi were without sounding completely ridiculous, and even then, there wasn't much they could do. Kairi's heart and body were separated with no way to reconnect them, and Riku was firmly in Maleficent's palm with no way to get to him.

One of the windows on the front of the Accessory Shop shattered, making everyone jump. A Soldier Heartless jumped up from the scattered shards and jangled, looking around the store before leaping at Yuffie. Leon darted forward and slashed diagonally, the Heartless vanishing in a puff of smoke. "Dammit, they found us."

"What's the plan?" Yuffie asked.

Leon stay silent for a while, watching the window for any additional Heartless. "We need to take out its leader if we want to stop the Heartless from attacking the civilians, and the only one that can do that is Sora."

 _"Me?"_

"The Keyblade is the only thing that can free a Heartless' heart, so yes, you have to find its leader and take it out." Leon looked at Sora. "Yuffie, you and I are going to meet up with Aerith and the other visitors at the hotel and take out as many Heartless as we can along the way. Sora, you're going to find the Heartless leader. Cid, keep an eye on Leila. Make sure she doesn't do anything."

Leila pushed off the counter and glared at Leon. "Are you kidding―"

Cid placed his hand on her shoulder and pulled her to his side. "Get going, Leon. We don't have time to chit chat."

"Wha―Cid!" Leila tried to pull away, but Cid tightened his grip and kept her glued to his side. Leon nodded his thanks and grabbed Sora's arm, dragging him out of the Accessory Shop with Yuffie following behind and saluting with two fingers just before the door closed.

Cid's grip loosened, and Leila pulled free, spinning to glare at him. "What is your problem? If you think I'm going to stand around here and do nothing, then you've―"

"Hold on." Cid held up his finger watched the shattered window. A few seconds passed, then he went around the counter and grabbed two potions, handing them to Leila. "Stick these in your pockets and chase after the brat."

Leila blinked then grabbed the potions, stuffing them into her jacket's pockets. She grabbed the front door's handle, but looked over her shoulder. "Why did you…?"

"I figured that Leon wouldn't hesitate to shoot you if you chased after the brat. Odds are, he's sticking around First, or Leon dragged him all the way into Second. Either way, I'm not stopping you from chasing after him lending a helping hand." Cid winked "If he asks, I'll just say you knocked me out before I could stop you. This can be our little secret."

Leila laughed and threw the front door open, running out to the plaza. Like Cid said, Leon was nowhere in sight, and Sora was in the middle of the plaza, a small crowd of Shadows and Soldiers surrounding him.

With a smile on her face, Leila ran down the stairs, grabbed one of the soldiers by its helmet and smashed it into the lamp post with a satisfying _clang._ The Heartless all paused to look at her, giving Sora the opportunity to make a wide slash and take out the two Heartless in front of him. With Leila kicking and throwing the Heartless and Sora attacking with the Keyblade, the Heartless in the plaza were taken care of in record time.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Leila said, only to grunt as Sora practically ran into her, trying to pick her up as he hugged her. "Glad to know you missed me for the five seconds I was gone."

Sora pulled away with a cheery grin on his face. "I thought Cid was watching you!"

"He figured you'd end up dead if I didn't help you out, so here I am. Don't tell Leon, though." Leila ruffled his hair and patted his shoulder. "Plus, he gave me a hint for where the big bad Heartless might be."

"Really?"

Leila nodded, pointing to the large doors that lead to Third District, a wooden beam barricading them shut. "Through there. Said that it's been blocked off for a while cause of a massive amount of Heartless activity. We get in there, we can probably find the leader."

Sora laughed and ran over to the door, the Keyblade disappearing as he tried to lift the wooden beam on his own. Leila went to his side and helped, pulling up and slipping it over the hooks. They stepped back until there was enough room to open the doors and dropped it with a clatter.

The doors struggled open with a rusted creak, and they had to settle with a gap _just_ wide enough for the both of them to squeeze through. Third District was… open, for lack of a better word. To their right was a large power generator, covered in scratches with a few wires dangling out. Across the cube-shaped district, shoved neatly into the corner, was a fountain with a golden depiction of Lady and Tramp kissing. There were a few lamp posts bordering the district, along with smaller lights lining the tops of the walls. Like Second District, Third was completely abandoned and, if it weren't for the slight gurgling of the fountain and the occasional spark from the busted generator, it would be eerily silent.

...Honestly, the slight ambience made Leila feel even more tense. She expected silence, but hearing the occasional spike in background noise―a loud spark from a loose wire, an unusually strong spurt of water from the fountain―made her jump.

Sora took a few steps ahead of her, the Kingdom Key reappearing in his hand as he looked around. "This place is pretty open. Did Cid say _where_ it was hiding?"

"No, he just said that it was in Third District, and he told me how to get there." The lie slipped off her tongue with ease as she walked along the wall, keeping an ear out for the tell-tale pop of Heartless appearing.

"Do we even know what it looks li―" An explosion rang out, cutting Sora's question short as they both jumped. As debris fell around them, a wave of hot air pulsed through the district, and Leila threw her arms up to protect her eyes. A pair of screams echoed overhead and grew closer before abruptly cutting off, a chorus of groans coming from in front of her.

Leila lowered her arms, blinked, and immediately covered her mouth, an insuppressible grin stretching across her face. Sora was sprawled across the ground, Keyblade still in hand, with Donald and Goofy piled on top of him, all of them groaning and struggling to move. She felt like she finally got to go to Disney World and see the Main Street Parade for the first time.

"Get off of me!" Sora grunted, trying to push himself up only to flop under Donald and Goofy's combined weight. Donald squawked and flailed, somehow rolling off and ending up on his back, while Goofy was the only one to successfully push himself up. He looked around, waving merrily at Leila, and she waved back, struggling to hide her utter glee. Yes, she loved the Kingdom Hearts series and Sora and all his adventures, but she was _raised_ on Disney, and Goofy was nothing but endearing.

"Goofy, the Key!" Donald shouted upside down, pointing at Sora's Keyblade. Sora scrambled to his feet, holding it close to his chest as he glared down at Donald. Before they could say anything else, a series of pops signaled the appearance of several Soldier Heartless around them, their armor clattering as they bounced from foot to foot.

Leila glared at the Soldiers, running forward and slamming the heel of her shoe into one's head. It fell back form the impact and skidded across the floor, laying dazed on its back. The two standing by its sides leapt at her, one jumping up and wrapping around her arm while the other spun and slashed at her calf. As Leila's leg gave out, she managed to twist her body in such a way that when she fell, she crushed the Soldier on her arm beneath her.

There was a tiny squeak, then the Heartless evaporated into smoke, Leila's body thumping against the ground. Clambering to her feet, Leila didn't have any time to react as the second Soldier leapt at her head, claws outstretched and inches away from slashing at her face―

Goofy dove in front of her, the Heartless' claws bouncing off his shield. He then charged forward, picking up the Heartless and ramming it into the wall. With the threat taken care of, Goofy turned and smiled at her. "I gotcha!"

 _Goofy just spoke to me._ Leila blinked, and Goofy tilted his head, expression concerned. _Don't just sit there, say something!_

Leila gave a shaky thumbs up. "Yeah, you too!" _Kill me._

Thankfully, Leila's embarrassing reply was followed closely by Donald shouting, "Thunder!" at the top of his lungs. Lightning fell from the sky like rain, striking down the Soldiers with ease. There was a moment of silence, then a loud, metal clanging came from above them. Scattered pieces of armor, all bigger than Leila, fell from the sky. They fell to the ground in front of the fountain and bounced, coming together to create a humanoid figure. The large chest piece shuddered and an armored head, about the size of Leila's torso, shot up out of its 'neck' and rotated around.

"You think that's it?" Sora shouted over his shoulder.

"It's big, it's different from all the others, and it had a dramatic entrance." Leila stood up and took a cautious step back. _"Pretty_ sure that's all the qualifications for being the Heartless Leader."

The Guard Armor leaned back and threw its arms out, and Leila had to dive to the side to avoid being hit. Donald screamed, whether he got hit or he was just scared, Leila couldn't tell because she was trying to get far away enough so that it wouldn't notice her. It stomped around Third District, swinging his arms around its body as it tried to hit Goofy and Sora. Goofy blocked the Heartless' claws with his shield while Sora hung back, trying to find an opening.

"Great." Leila looked down at her hands again, making a fist. "Now would be a great time to have my weird, beat-the-crap-outta-Leon hands back!"

"Blizzard!" Donald cried, and Leila looked up in time to see a baseball-sized chunk of ice fly from the tip of his staff and slam into the Guard Armor's left hand. The metal became covered in a layer of frost, a few larger spires of ice rising up, but the Heartless barely reacted. Instead, it hovered slightly off the ground, shuddered, and then let its limbs disconnect from the main body. The legs plodded along, marching towards Goofy, while the arms floated towards Donald and Sora. Without warning the arms suddenly flew towards Sora, who didn't have time to dodge or block as they slammed into him, throwing him across the district.

Leila gasped sharply, then charged at the pair of hands, her vision tinted red. She felt an almost familiar thrum buzzing in her arm as she jumped up and clawed at the hand. Her arm was now wrapped in darkness, and her now-clawed hand left deep gouges in the Guard Armor's palm, almost splitting it in three separate pieces.

The two hands immediately jerked back to the Guard Armor's main body, along with its legs. The Heartless waved its limbs around, head spinning around as it examined the four of them. Holding onto her anger, Leila ran forward and punched one of the Guard Armor's legs. There was a loud 'POP!' as the metal bent and dented, and then exploded into a burst of darkness.

The Guard Armor stumbled and floated away, glaring down at her, only to be thrown into a wall when a fireball collided with its arm. The right arm's metal warped and melted before exploding into darkness, just like the leg.

Now somewhat handicapped, the Guard Armor resorted to hovering to navigate the area better. Sora, following Leila's example, rushed in to slash at the Guard Armor's remaining leg.

"Look out!" Goofy shouted, running in and raising his shield just in time to block the Guard Armo's hand from smacking into both of them. While Sora focused on slashing the remaining leg to pieces, Leila grabbed the hand out of the air and dragged it down, pushing the two ends together. There was a smidge of resistance, then the metal gave in and ended up looking like a crushed soda can right before it vanished.

Leila backed away, watching as Sora landed the final blow to the Guard Armor's remaining leg. Now without its limbs, the Guard Armor hovered just out of their reach, and they all backed away, waiting for it to make its next move.

Without warning, the Guard Armor dropped to the ground, its metal body clanging noisily. While its head remained stationary, its body began to spin rapidly, careening left, right, and then charging towards the four of them.

"Scatter!" Donald screeched, and they all ran in different directions as the Guard Armor's chestpiece bounced around Third District like a pinball. Unfortunately, Leila had ran herself into a corner, just in front of the fountain, right as the Guard Armor spun wildly toward her.

Making a split-second decision, Leila stood her ground and held up her hands, catching the Guard armor and digging her claws in. It continued to spin, burning the palms of her hand and nearly pulling her fingers off, but she grit her teeth and endured it. "Sora, quick!"

"Right!" Sora shouted back, running up to the Guard Armor and jumping up, pointing the Keyblade down to stab the Guard Armor straight through its back. It abruptly stopped spinning, its head falling down to land at Leila's feet as the chest piece began shuddering wildly. A crystalline Heart rose up from it 'neck,' floating up into the sky and disappearing with a flash of light, and Leila could've sworn she heard someone whisper, "thank you…"

And then the Guard Armor's chest exploded, throwing Leila back into the fountain and drenching her. Once the shock of landing in cold water wore off, Leila groaned and slapped the water's surface, ignoring Sora's heartfelt laughter as he laid on the ground near Donald and Goofy.

* * *

 **AN:** So... that Amazon Games trailer, huh?

I'm patting myself on the back _so hard_ right now. Not only did I get a consistent three-week upload chain going, but this is the longest chapter yet, and we're _nearly_ out of Traverse Town! Last chapter should be the end of it, and then we finally get to visit Wonderland!

Anyways, you won't see this fic updating for a while because I'm participating in the FFXV Gift Exchange on Ao3 and our submissions are due in December, so I'm going to have to focus on that for a while. Plus, I've been doing nothing but write for DBS and I want to avoid burnout if I can, so this is a sort of... mini hiatus, if you need to think of it like that. The next update will be in January at the latest, but hopefully it will _actually_ happen around mid-December if I'm fast enough.

Regardless, thank you all for reading!


	7. Newly Recruited Vagabonds

**CHAPTER 7: Newly Recruited Vagabonds**

" _It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world." ― John Green_

* * *

"So… you were looking for me?" Sora pointed at himself, and Donald and Goofy nodded. A few minutes had passed since they defeated the Guard Armor and, once Leila got out of the fountain and they checked each other over for injuries, Donald and Goofy explained why they were in Traverse Town.

"We're looking for our King, and he said to find someone with a 'key' to help save the worlds from blinking out." Donald said. "You've got a big, honking key, so you must be the one the King told us to find!"

"Yeah, and your key even looks like the one the King has!" Goofy added. "You've gotta be him!"

"Oh." Sora said quietly, looking down at the Kingdom Key. "Guess this thing is really important, huh?"

"Guess so." Said Leila, just as softly. Sora had a large weight on his shoulders but, at the very least, it was a weight he could learn about and carry with the friends he had around him. Leila, on the other hand…

Well, her hands were still wrapped in darkness and tipped with razor-sharp claws. Not only that, she now had even more questions than when she arrived on Destiny Island, and there were no answers in sight.

"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Goofy asked. "We can go to other worlds on our ship, and we've got a spare room."

Donald made a slightly annoyed sound and glared at Goofy, but Sora missed it, still looking at the Keyblade. "I wonder if we could find Riku and Kairi…"

With a sad smile, Leila patted Sora on the shoulder, careful to not get her claws caught on his shirt or, worse, accidentally pierce him. "It's better than sitting on our thumbs, unless you wanna stick with Leon."

"You can definitely come with us. And, we'll even help you find them!" Donald interrupted, an exaggerated smile on his beak. Leila glared at him and Goofy gently pulled Donald away, leaning down to whisper in his friend's ear.

Leila shook her head in exasperation, knowing that Donald's initial intentions were… not out of the goodness of his heart, to put it lightly. Still, yelling at Donald wouldn't accomplish anything, and right now she was more focused on Sora. Crouching down meet his gaze, Leila put her warped hands in her lap and gently nudged him with her shoulder. "Hey, seriously, you doing okay? I've got a potion if that hit from earlier knocked you for a loop."

"No, I'm fine, just…" Sora shook his head and scuffed his shoe against the ground. Now that Leila could see his face clearly, she could see just how miserable he looked. "I… I want to go with them."

"Okay, that's not a bad thing—"

"But!" Donald interrupted, waving his finger beneath Sora's nose and completely ignoring Leila, nearly shoving her out of the way. "You can't come along looking like that, understand? No frowning, no sad face, okay?"

"Yeah!" Goofy joined in, leaning over Donald. "Ya gotta look funny, like us!"

Donald shoved upwards, pushing Goofy away. "This boat runs on happy faces!"

"Happy?" Sora questioned, closing his eyes. Leila rose from her crouch, taking a step back and trying to refrain from smiling, already knowing what was going to happen next. Donald and Goofy exchanged looks, somewhat concerned at his lack of response, only to startle when Sora suddenly leaned forward with his lips pulled back as much as possible, his eyes somehow going in two different directions.

Letting out a snort, Leila carefully pinched Sora's cheeks, stretching his face slightly. Sora pulled back (thankfully not catching her claws and scratching himself) and shoved her away, puffing out his cheeks when she started laughing in earnest. "Hey!"

"Aw, c'mon, you gave me a golden opportunity!" Leila said, cracking up. She swatted Sora's grubby hands away when he reached out to poke her face, Donald and Goofy chuckling in the background.

With one last shove, Sora stuck his tongue out at Leila and smiled at Donald and Goofy, his mood visibly improved. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."

Donald held his hand out, stating his name proudly. "Donald Duck!"

Goofy placed his hand on top of Donald's, copying him. "Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora." Sora said as he reached his hand out, only to pause and look at Leila, tilting his head towards the two Disney characters. "C'mon, you don't want _me_ to introduce you, right?"

Leila blinked, then awkwardly jolted into action, placing her hand on top of Sora's and forcing them both into the small pile. "Leila! My… my name's Leila."

Goofy chuckled, throwing their arms up in the air. "All for one, and one for all!"

Donald huffed, his arm still out in front of him as he looked at Leila and Sora. "There are three rules if you're gonna travel worlds with us, so listen up! One: you're new to world travelling, so you'll listen to _me_ no matter what. Two: you can't mention that you're from another world because, _three,_ you can't mess with the world order. Got it?"

"Uh…" Sora raised his hand just above his head, as if he was asking a school teacher to pick on him. "What's the world order?"

Goofy hummed. "Well, did ya know that other worlds existed before ya started travellin'?"

"Uh… not really? We thought Kairi was from another world, but… really, we just sort of _hoped_ that they did."

"Well, you can't really let other people know that those other worlds exist, because then people will try to get to those other worlds in bad ways, and it could lead to their own world gettin' messed up!" Goofy nodded.

"Just say that you're a traveller, and don't tell them where from unless you can make up a place that exists on that world." Donald squawked, starting to march towards the door to First District. "Now come on, we need to get some supplies from the shops before we leave."

The group pushed the door open, pausing for a moment to push the wooden barricade further away to make a wide enough gap for Donald to squeeze through. Though First District was still empty, the air was much less tense than before, and it felt like Leila could finally take a deep breath.

And then Goofy opened his big mouth. "So uh, what'd ya do to your hands?"

Leila's fingers twitched, and she shoved them into her jacket pockets, claws clinking against the potion bottles. It didn't do much, seeing as the ink-like substance crawled all the way up to her elbow, and Leila responded with a shaky voice. "Wish I could tell you."

Sora frowned and glanced down at her arms. Leila hunched over, trying to push her hands further into her pockets. "Does it hurt?"

"N-No?" There wasn't a way for Leila to explain the feeling of darkness wrapped around her hands, or the odd thrum that sung deep in her bones. It didn't hurt, not in any obvious way, but it didn't feel good, either. "It sort of just… sort of _is._ "

Before they could interrogate her any further, a voice called out, "Sora!"

Leon stood on the second level of First District, Yuffie and Aerith standing behind him. His eyes flicked between the four of them, and he vaulted over the cobblestone divider, unoccupied hand reaching for his gunblade. Leila took several steps back, swearing mentally when she saw how Leon's eyes were trained on her still-transformed arms, the purple veins glowing brightly in the low light of Traverse Town.

Sora darted in between Leon and Leila, the Kingdom Key appearing in a flash of light as he bent his knees. "Don't take another step!"

Leon did pause, but only for a second. While he didn't move forward, he unsheathed his gunblade and held it at his side in a loose grip, watching Sora's next move carefully. Yuffie and Aerith rushed down the stairs to stand on the side lines, Yuffie having drawn a large shuriken and Aerith… watching Leila.

"Move out of the way, Sora." Leon said calmly, lifting his free hand up and letting a fireball crackle in his palm. "I don't want to hurt you."

Gritting her teeth, Leila ran forward until she was just behind Sora, pulling her hands out of her pockets. "Don't even _think_ about it."

"Right back at ya!" Yuffie shouted, lifting the… admittedly not that terrifying shuriken over her shoulder.

"This is the girl you were talking about?" Aerith asked, and Leila shied away from her openly inquisitive expression. "She doesn't seem as bad as you two have made her out to be."

"Duh! Are you even _looking_ at her arms right now?"

As if on cue, the darkness weaving around her arms pulled apart and disappeared beneath her jacket's sleeves, and her hands returned to normal. The sensation was somehow _more_ unpleasant, like something burrowed into her palms and shot down into her arms, making them feel bloated and wrong. Leila hissed involuntarily, fingers twitching at her sides as she forced herself to not wince and meet Leon's glare with her own.

"What's your problem with her?" Donald asked behind her.

Leon briefly glanced at the mage before glaring down at the two of them again. "It can't be a coincidence that someone with command over the darkness appeared at the same time the Heartless activity increased."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Sora shouted back.

"I don't have any control over… this. " Leila argued, raising one of her hands. "Look, I get what you mean, but even then I don't think that warrants you shooting me and hating me for something you can't prove I'm the cause of."

"Plus, Leila seemed pretty against the Heartless, since she helped us fight that big one in Third District!" Goofy added. "Don't ya think this is all one big misunderstandin'?"

"Even if it _is,_ I don't think she should be near the Keyblade wielder." Leon raised his sword and pointed it at Leila's chest. "Her dark heart will attract the Heartless in droves."

"Well, I don't care what you think, Leila's staying with me." Leila blinked and looked down at Sora in surprise. "I lost my _whole world._ I lost my island, I lost my mom, I lost Riku and Kairi, but I'm not going to lose anyone else! I'm staying with Leila, and I don't care what _you_ think about that."

The two glared at each other for a few more seconds, then Leon broke away to address Leila. "And you're staying with him?"

"If Donald and Goofy will let me." Leila shuffled her feet, tempted to turn and look at them, but also unwilling to look away from Leon if he decided to suddenly attack. "I mean, they're the ones offering to take Sora everywhere. If they're okay with me sticking around then, yeah, I want to stay with him."

Leon didn't react, simply staring her down. He lifted his head and said, "And what do you think? Will this interfere with your mission?

Donald sighed and tapped his foot. "It's… _fine,_ but I don't know how much room we'd have on the Gummi ship."

"The _what?"_ Sora asked incredulously.

"It's how we get around to other worlds." Goofy replied, scratching his chin. "I don't think space'll be _that_ big of a problem."

"The cockpit only has three seats. We have four people." Donald deadpanned, then turned to Leon. "We need Sora to come with us to search for King Mickey, and if he isn't going to go without her, then…"

Leon sighed. "Fine."

"Leon, are you serious?" Yuffie nearly shouted.

"If she leaves, the Heartless activity will lower, and the Keyblade should keep all of them at bay." Not-so subtly glaring at Leila, Leon gestured towards the Accessory Shop. "Cid should still be manning the counter. He might be able to give you some parts for your ship that should help with your space problem."

Donald nodded his thanks, then turned to the three of them. "I'll talk to him, you three go to the item shop and get some supplies."

"You don't wanna come with us?" Goofy asked as Sora took a few steps back, finally looking away from Leon to glance over his shoulder at Leila. She gave him a brief, supportive smile before looking back at Leon, keeping her expression as impassive as possible

"I'll catch up with you, this shouldn't take _too_ long." Donald waddled past them, heading for the stairs. Leon and Yuffie holstered both their weapons and followed after him, throwing some skeptical glances over their shoulders at them.

Leila sighed and pulled a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. Sora dismissed his Keyblade and looked up at her, visibly upset. "They _really_ don't like you, huh?"

"Oh, they just need some time to get used to ya!" Goofy patted Leila on the back and steered them to the other side of First District. "The item shop's over here."

"Hold on!" Aerith called out after them, untying a pouch from her belt. It jingled as she put it in Sora's hand. "It's not much, but it should help you on your journey."

Sora pulled the pouch open and gaped, glancing between it and Aerith's gentle smile. "This is… a _lot."_

"You should be able to afford a potion or two, if you use your own munny as well." Aerith tilted her head and waved, heading up the stairs to the Accessory Shop and leaving them to their own devices. Goofy walked away, heading towards a pair of ornate, windowed doors. Leila gently pulled the still-shocked Sora by his arm after him, hearing Sora mutter, "Ten, twenty, thirty…"

The Item Shop was small and somewhat cramped, and just as dimly lit as the rest of Traverse Town. A small staircase was crammed against the right wall, leading to a second door, and shelves lined the far wall. There was a long, L-shaped counter on the left, with more shelves behind it, and an old-fashioned cash register on top.

There were various items up for sale. The shelves along the wall contained more general things—mostly canned or preserved foods, though there were some fresh fruits, and few miscellaneous items as well, like notebooks and pencils—while the ones behind the counter held weapons and potions.

As the door squeaked shut behind the them, Huey, Dewey, and Louie popped up from behind the counter. Goofy chuckled and waved. "Hey there boys!"

"Uncle Goofy! You're back!" Said… the green one, vaulting over the counter to hug Goofy tightly. Leila would openly admit that she never could remember which triplet was named what. She knew their names, thank god for that, but if someone told her to describe each of the ducklings, she'd definitely bungle their names.

"You know these guys?" Sora asked.

"Donald's their uncle." Goofy patted the duckling on the head. He smiled up at the Goofy once more before running back to the counter, standing with his brothers.

"I'm Huey!" Said the duck in the red shirt. "These are my brothers, Dewey and Louie." He gestured at the ducks in blue and green, respectively. Leila winced, knowing that she'd constantly butcher all of their names. "What can we get you?"

"What do you have?" Leila asked, crossing her arms as she looked at the shelves.

"We've got a pretty standard layout." Said Dewey, spinning around to point out everything on the shelves. "Potions are the cheapest, at sixty munny, with hi-potions more pricey around one-fifty, but it'll heal you up much better than the potions will. Ethers are the most expensive item we've got at two hundred, but there aren't many magic users around so we have don't have as much, which is why we have the high price."

"We'll definitely want a lotta potions to fix us up." Goofy said. "Donald uses Cure a lot, so I only had two on me before we started travellin'."

"And Cid gave me two before we went after the Guard Armor." Leila said. "So… maybe two more for safety? How much munny do we have, because I've got nothing."

"Aerith gave us five hundred munny, and I had around a hundred on me already." Sora said.

"And I've got some munny on me, too, so…" Goofy hummed. "Let's get two more potions, and then a high potion, just to be safe. And, maybe an ether 'r two for Donald."

"What about a weapon for Leila?" Sora asked as Louie and Huey rushed around behind the counter, grabbing the items they'd already pointed out.

Leila shrugged, letting out a hesitant noise. "Eh, even if we have enough munny left over, I don't know how to use any of them. Not that I couldn't _learn,_ but… I want to figure out how to use what I already have."

"Plus, y'need to know magic in order to use a staff fully, and the shield's the most expensive thing here." Goofy said. "With all the items we've got, we wouldn't be able to afford it."

Sora frowned, crossing his arms and staring at the floor. "I mean, we can put stuff _back."_

Leila rolled her eyes and kneeled to Sora's height, lightly punching his arm. "Hey, look, I don't understand what's up with me _at all,_ but if I ignore it, I'm not going to learn anything. I'll be okay without a weapon, I promise."

"You're _sure?"_

"Yeah. It's better we get stuff that can fix us up anyways." Leila stood back to her full height and looked at the small assortment of items the ducklings had put on the counter. "How much?"

"Six hundred seventy munny!" Huey stuck out his hand and Sora handed over all the munny he had, Goofy paying the last bit of munny needed. The triplets placed all the items in a paper bag and handed it to Sora, and waved after them as they left.

"Thank you for your business!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"Bring Uncle Donald back in one piece!"

They wandered over to the table, divvying up the items and putting them into their pockets, leaving the ethers out for Donald. As they worked, Leila commented, "They seemed nice."

"Donald ain't that happy that they're here." Goofy said as he took one of the potions, and left the rest for Leila and Sora. "They snuck out and built a Gummi Ship on their own, stole a lot of supplies, 'n set up shop without tellin' anyone where they were goin' or what they were doin'."

"Jeez…" Leila whispered, pushing the potion and hi-potion towards Sora. At his annoyed expression, she shrugged. "Hey, I've already got two, and I've only got two pockets that can hold things. I think I'm good."

Sora rolled his eyes, but took the potions and shoved them into his pants' pockets. "What's so bad about them leaving? They didn't do anything wrong."

"Well, when they disappeared without a trace, everyone thought the Heartless got 'em. Disney Castle's safe, but maybe the boys went out beyond the protection we had. Donald was heart-broken, and he threw a fit when we found them lookin' for Leon. Told 'em to never do that again."

"Why'd they leave?" Leila asked. "I mean, sure, maybe they didn't know about the Heartless, but why go to a completely different world?"

"They take after their Uncle Scrooge more than Donald. They wanted to start up their own business, and they couldn't do anythin' in Disney Castle. Figured going to a new world was the best thing they could do to grow up."

"But that's not bad!" Sora shouted, slamming his hands on the table and nearly knocking it over. "They just wanted to be together!"

Leila startled at the loud noise, staring at Sora in shock. His face was flushed, and he was shaking slightly, jaw clenched. Leila nearly smacked herself at how _stupid_ she was to talk about leaving home without telling anyone when Sora was only a day away from doing that.

Feeling like she was treading on eggshells, Leila chose her words carefully. "Yeah, wanting to _grow up_ isn't bad, but leaving so abruptly? If I could tell my friend that I was going to wind up on Destiny Islands before I got whisked away, I would."

"Hindsight's twenty-twenty." Leila jumped as Donald's voice came from behind her. In his hand was a blocky, waxy material colored a pale gray, with flecks of yellow and blue scattered across the surface. He huffed and grabbed the ethers from the table, sticking them in the pockets on his shirt. "Glad to see you you were considerate of me."

Leila rolled her eyes and chose to ignore Donald's obvious snark, instead commenting on what was in his hand. "Is that the Gummi part?"

"Yep. Came at the cost of all my munny, but Cid said it should work. I just have to give it to Chip and Dale, and we're good to go."

"So… that means we're going now, right?" Sora asked, a tentative smile on his face.

Donald nodded, gesturing for everyone to follow him. "Come on, we parked it outside."

As they pushed through the doors leading out of Traverse Town, Sora would _not_ stop jumping. Leila shook her head fondly as she watched him, fists clenched excitedly in front of him as they continued down a winding cobblestone road, flanked by flickering lamp posts. It was a stark contrast to his mood back at the table, and Leila couldn't help but smile back at him, his enthusiasm contagious. After all, leaving a world _voluntarily_ felt a hell of a lot better than being forcibly ripped away.

After a few minutes of walking, Donald and Goofy abruptly veered off the path and stopped just outside the light's reach. Leila and Sora stayed on the path as Donald took his staff and tapped it against thin air, making an oddly sharp _tink-tink-tink_ sound.

From where Donald tapped there was a soft hiss. The air seemed to pulse before a staircase lowered from a hinge, spilling bright light across the ground. Leila and Sora inched closer, seeing a white room at the top of the stairs.

Donald turned around and gave them a smug grin. "Cloaking device. Showing off the Gummi Ship could break the World Order."

"And we don't want anyone tryin' to steal it." Goofy added, climbing the stairs. "C'mon! Donald 'n I'll show you around."

Once Donald and Goofy had entered, Sora bolted past Leila and took the stairs two at a time. Leila took a more cautious approach, testing her weight against the step and climbing them slowly, more of the room becoming visible as she walked up.

The room was small and simple, with bare white walls and just enough room for the four of them to move around. The staircase pulled up from the ground and clicked as it met with the wall again, the steps moving so that it appeared flush to the wall, with only a faint black line showed where it originally was. The only noticeable difference was a gray door that, when Goofy walked up to it, split into two halves and lead to a hallway.

The hallway had two more doors—one further down to the right and one directly across—and a large circle on the floor to the left. Donald immediately went down the hall to the door, letting it open and close behind him while Goofy talked. "That down there is the engine and mechanical room where Chip 'n Dale are. They take care of the ship and make sure everythin' works right."

"Then why's Donald going down there?" Sora asked.

"He's gonna give Chip 'n Dale the new Gummi part so they can integrate it into the ship." Goofy pointed at the door across from them. "That door leads to the kitchen. We don't got a lot of food though, because we mostly eat on the worlds we're visiting."

As he spoke, Goofy made his way over to the circle and stood in the center of it, spreading his arms. "Come over here! I'm gonna take you to the room you're stayin' in."

Leila and Sora exchanged a confused glance, but followed Goofy nonetheless. Once they were all standing on the circle, Goofy tapped his foot twice. The circle pulsed with a brief cyan light, and the circle disconnected from the floor with an abrupt jolt. Leila and Sora both jumped, throwing their arms out for balance as the platform began to rise steadily upwards. Before their heads could hit the ceiling, another circle opened above them, and the platform settled seamlessly into the floor once more.

Goofy was completely nonplussed by this, walking to a door on their left and opening it. "This is the guest room! Come and take a look."

Leila and Sora walked past Goofy, looking around the bedroom. There was a ridiculously massive bed in the far corner of the room with a bright red blanket, with a large silhouette of Mickey Mouse's head sewn into the center. Off on the far right wall, there were two barren shelves (with the lowest one having hooks drilled in beneath it) and another door.

"Just the one bed?" Sora asked, a slight grimace on his face. "Didn't Donald get more space, or something?"

"That was for the cockpit, this is just one of the bedrooms." Goofy explained, backing away and waving over his shoulder. "I'll leave you two to get settled."

The door slid shut behind them, and the two of them were left in an awkward silence. Leila bit her lip and walked up to the bed, tilting her head. "It should be big enough for the both of us to have some stretching room, so we're good in that regard."

"And…" Sora went up to the door in the room and it slid open in front of him, bright fluorescent lights spilling out into the bedroom. "This is a bathroom."

"Dibs!" Leila turned on her heel and darted past him, standing in the bathroom and turning back to stick her tongue out at Sora. "You snooze, you lose!"

"No fair!" Sora mock shouted back. "I was here first!"

"But I called dibs. Therefore, I get the first shower."

Sora rolled his eyes and backed away with his hands up. "Fiiine, I am going to try and get to the kitchen and eat some food. You want anything?"

"Something edible?" Leila shrugged. "Honestly, I'm so hungry I don't care enough to think about food options right now. It's been way too many hours since I had lunch."

"I didn't even _have_ lunch." Sora complained just before the bathroom door closed. Breathing out a sigh, Leila examined the bathroom. Across from her was a sink with a mirror directly above it, a toilet placed directly to the left of it. On her right was a shower with sliding glass doors, and a towel rack screwed into the walls with two big, fluffy towels already on it.

Before Leila could examine the shower further, the door slid open again, and Sora peeked in. "What's up? You want to trade?"

"No, but..." Sora looked down at the floor, shuffling his feet. "Do you… _really_ think we'll be able to find Kairi and Riku?"

"What makes you think we won't?"

"Well, there's probably a lotta worlds out there, so we might not find the right one." Sora bit his lip. "If they got away."

Leila frowned and gently nudged his shoulder. "Hey, I won't say I know everything in the whole universe, but I know a fair bit, alright?"

"Quit goofing around."

"I'm not!" Leila pouted indignantly but, when it failed to get Sora to look up, she continued. "Look, I get it, I sound like I'm talking out of my butt right now and saying things to make you feel better, but I'm not. Kairi and Riku got away from Destiny Islands and are out there, and we'll _definitely_ find them."

"...really?"

Leila smiled and took one of Sora's hands, having him trace an 'X' on her chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Sora yanked his hand back, finally looking up from the floor with genuine panic in his eyes. "I don't want you to die!"

Leila couldn't hold back her laughter, even if she tried. "Then I solemnly swear that not only are Kairi and Riku out there, but that I _also_ won't die. How's that?"

Sora bashfully looked away, holding up his fist with his pinky finger extended. "Pinky promise?"

With a faint smile, Leila hooked Sora's pinky with her own, tugging firmly. "Pinky promise."

Sora finally looked up at her, a determined grin on his face. "And you can't break a pinky promise, got it?"

"I get it, I get it." Leila shoved Sora away, then placed her hands on her hips. "Now, _I_ am going to take my shower. Try to get some food in ya, and maybe even take a nap, alright?"

The door slid closed before she could see Sora's response, allowing her to let out a sigh. She hoped that her promise would be enough to reassure Sora, and that he wouldn't lose hope with the constant dead ends they'd run into.

"Now for the hardest part," Leila placed her hands on her hips, casting a critical eye over the entire rig that was the shower. "How the _hell_ do I use this thing?"

* * *

 **AN:** I'm back~ (this chapter was such a pain to write omfg if I have to write for Leon again it'll be too soon, I can't write him well at ALL ;^;) Can you believe we're only a few weeks away from KH3? Like… what timeline are we living in?

This chapter took so stupidly long to write because I kept rewriting that scene with Leon and everyone else so. many. times. That, and I tried to integrate in-game dialogue more naturally and had to make changes would make sense with Leila's inclusion. That, and I drew out a rough sketch of what the Gummi Ship's interior would look like so that I knew for a fact what I was describing and wouldn't confuse the interior. On top of all of this, my brain keeps wanting to jump forward to the worlds that appear at, like, the 75% point in the game and I have to keep going "NO! WE AREN'T THERE YET!"

But I'm SO EXCITED WE'RE FINALLY OUT OF THE BEGINNING! We now go on to Wonderland, which is hopefully going to be _much_ shorter than Traverse Town, especially since I don't have anything special planned for it.

Thank you all for reading, and I can't wait to see this fandom self-destruct from the end of a _massive_ saga.


	8. Royal Kangaroo Court

**CHAPTER 8: Royal Kangaroo Court**

 _"Evidence? HA! That's not how our court system works."_

 _"Then how can I prove my innocence?"_

 _"Simple—I say what happened, then you say what happened, and then I decide who's right. That's why we call it "justice," because it's just us." — Avatar: The Last Airbender_

* * *

" _GOOOOOOOOD_ MORNING!"

Leila jerked and flailed, her hand slamming against the metal wall as she struggled to fully wake up. There was a thump to her right, and Leila saw Sora's legs kicking wildly in the air, the rest of him having fallen to the floor. The door to the bedroom was open, Goofy standing in the center of the frame, who struggled not to laugh at them. "Sorry! Didn't think you'd still be asleep."

After figuring out the shower and washing the grime from the past few days away, Leila left the bathroom only for Sora to dart past her and claim it for himself. Leila found a paper plate with half a sandwich left on the bed and ate it, then laid down, hoping that she could get a bit of relaxation before they would be flying away and getting into the nitty gritty of Kingdom Hearts.

Instead of relaxing, she must've fell asleep and been dead to the world, since she couldn't remember pulling the blanket up to cover her. Given that Sora had been laying next to her, she could only guess that he did it after coming out of the shower. It had to have been a while, since her hair felt significantly drier compared to when she ate the sandwich earlier, so...

"Are we taking off?" Leila asked groggily, managing to sit up.

"Nope! We're about to land." Goofy said, waving at them and stepping out of the door frame. "I'll wait for you two in the hallway."

The door slid closed. She blinked, and could easily imagine a loading bar above her head.

"We _took off?"_ She nearly yelled, trying to pull her arm away from the wall, only for her fingernails to snag on something. Glancing over, she groaned when she saw her arm had changed, her purple-tipped claws jammed firmly into the wall.

"We're about to _land?"_ Sora shouted, pulling his legs off the bed and falling onto his side with a slight 'oomph.' Jumping to his feet, Sora ran off to the corner of the bedroom where he (apparently) put his shoes and and hopped, one foot to the other, pulling them on.

Leila watched him for a few seconds before focusing on her stuck hand. Thankfully, only her right hand was affected, so her free hand was perfectly able to press against the wall and give Leila leverage to pull herself free. When the few tugs didn't do anything, Leila planted her feet against the wall and pushed with all her might, grabbing her stuck hand's wrist to get some extra power behind it. "Come _on,_ get out of the―"

The darkness surrounding her arm suddenly receded, and Leila fell back as the claws vanished, suddenly freeing her. She rolled and fell off the bed, her head and upper back hitting the ground and sending a dull ache through her body. Groaning, Leila rubbed the back of her head and glared at her hand. "This is so _annoying!"_

Sora looked over at her, tilting his head. "Did you want to sleep more?"

"No! …Well, _maybe,_ but―" Leila sighed, rolling over and pushing herself to her feet. "Never mind. Let's just… go."

Sora pouted, but didn't push it, standing beside her as the door slid open. Just like Goofy said, he was waiting at the end of the hall, but Donald had joined him. The duck had his hands on his hips, and he tapped his foot impatiently. "About time you woke up!"

"Sorry, but we didn't have any time to sleep between fighting for our lives and figuring out what to do next." Leila glared, tying her hair back into her usual messy bun. "When are we landing?"

"We already did." Donald said, putting a hand up to stop Leila's stunned sputter. "The Gummi Ship is nothing but smooth sailing when I'm behind the controls."

"And Chip 'n Dale had an autopilot program on to help us!" Goofy said.

"Ah, that explains it." Leila said.

"There's no _way_ we could've slept through the flight without it." Sora cheekily replied, and they all laughed as Donald frowned heavily. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Donald huffed and stomped his foot once, not waiting for Leila and Sora to get on the platform as it started to descend. They rushed forward, jumping on just before the hatch closed, the platform tilting under their added weight. Once they were stable and on the first level, Donald closed his eyes and stuck his beak up at them. He spun on his heel and pushed a spot on the wall, the staircase clicking out of place and slowly lowering to the ground, stomping down and out into the new world.

Sora turned to Goofy. "Did we make him mad? Like, really, _really_ mad?"

"Naw, he's just playin' it up." Goofy patted him on the shoulder, then went down the stairs, calling over his shoulder. "He always got huffy when me 'n the King made fun of him."

Leila shook her head fondly, double-checking that the potions were still in her jacket pockets before followed the… animals, she guessed would be the proper term, out the Gummi ship. Halfway down, she turned and looked back to see Sora nervously standing just behind the doorway, hands jammed into his pockets. "What's up?"

Sora startled, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Nothing! Just… this is a new world."

"Yep."

"That we're just gonna walk out into."

"Mhm."

"And you're okay with that?"

"I mean, this world isn't all that weird looking." Honestly, it surprised her a bit. She'd been expecting Wonderland, with all it's mind bending, physics-defying properties. The area they'd landed it was an open field with a few trees scattered around, with a small river off in the distance, past a field of daisies. "That and, after being ripped two other worlds without any warning, having a say in where I go is pretty refreshing."

Sora chuckled tensely. "Yeah, that helps a bit."

He still didn't move. After a few more seconds, Leila went up two of the steps and held out her hand so that Sora could _just_ reach it. "C'mon."

"You don't have to baby me."

"I'm not babying you. I'm just helping you down the stairs." Leila smiled and stretched her hand out a bit more.

Sora humphed and pouted, but took Leila's hand and let her pull him down the staircase. He hesitated on the last step, then carefully stepped down onto the soft grass, holding Leila's hand so tightly she could hear her bones creaking. She smiled and ruffled his hair, kicking the stairs up so it would ease back into place on the Gummi Ship. "See? It's not so―"

Off in the distance, Donald screamed unintelligibly. They turned to see him jumping up and down, waving his fists in the air, before running after something, Goofy not far behind. Sora took off in a sprint, and Leila spared a glance over her shoulder at the completely visible Gummi Ship before following after them.

Running through the daisy field and crossing the stepping stones in the river, she caught up to the trio. Goofy and Sora, the latter rubbing his cheek, were staring at Donald's behind and flailing legs. His upper body was stuck in a rabbit hole underneath a tree, and despite being stuck underground, Leila could still hear his enraged screeches. "What happened?"

"Well, a white rabbit ran by and snatched up Donald's staff, then ran down this here rabbit hole." Goofy scratched his head. "Donald dove down in there to chase him, but got stuck, and then Sora tried to pull him out, but got kicked in the face."

Leila took a better look at Sora's cheek, spotting a red mark, vaguely shaped like Donald's webbed foot, underneath his hand. Sora grumbled, "He shouldn't bother using magic if he can kick _that_ hard."

"Now none of us can get him out, and Donald's outta luck without his staff." Goofy continued and tilted his head at Donald's flailing legs. "Rabbit's probably long gone by now."

Donald's screeches raised in volume, though Leila couldn't tell if it was because he could hear Goofy or if he only just realized he was well and truly stuck. "Could the two of us try grabbing his ankles to pull him out? Our arms should be long enough to keep us from getting kicked."

"Are you saying my arms are short?" Sora placed his hands on his hips, proudly displaying the red mark on his cheek.

His tone was light and teasing, so Leila shot back, "No, I'm saying your _everything_ is short." Then, to Goofy, "C'mon. You take left, I'll take right."

He nodded and reached forward, easily grabbing Donald's ankle and pulling until Donald's leg was straight and taut. Of course, that made his right leg flail even harder, and Leila suffered a few small bruises on the top of her thigh as Donald's toes managed to hit her before she got a decent hand hold.

"Okay, on three." Leila said, struggling to keep hold of Donald's leg. After they'd grabbed both his legs, he'd started squirming and trying to pull his legs free. Honestly, Leila was sort of relieved he didn't have his staff, because it meant he couldn't rain lightning bolts down on them and fry them to bits. "One… two… three—EE!"

Donald jolted forward, his frantic squirming apparently moving enough dirt for him to move again, pulling Leila and Goofy along with him. Leila managed to let go before she fell down, but Goofy held on, and shouted as Donald dragged him into the rabbit hole. Their screams echoed slightly before taking a panicked note and fading away.

Sora bent over and sighed. "We have to follow them, right?"

"Yep."

"Down the rabbit hole."

"Uh huh."

"All to chase a _rabbit?"_

"That stole Donald's staff, yes."

Sora grumbled and got on his hands and knees, managing to squeeze into the tunnel with a little bit of space left. Leila, however, had to crawl on her stomach to follow after him, pulling in her stomach to try and keep her shirt from getting covered in dirt. "Can you see anything?"

"Sort of?" Sora called over his shoulder, inching forward. "There's a little bit of light, but I can't really _see—!"_

Sora suddenly slipped forward and, without thinking, Leila grabbed his shoe and was dragged forward with him. Dust flew up into her face as she was pulled off a ledge, her screams blending with Sora's as they plummeted.

"Shit shit shit shit _shit!"_ Leila chanted as they continued to free fall, maintaining her death grip on Sora's shoe as she managed to . She wasn't an expert in Wonderland, but weren't they supposed to _float_ down?

As if the world could read her thoughts, Sora suddenly jerked upwards and remained above her. She glanced up to see his pants poofing outwards, the wind catching and essentially turning them into a parachute, slowing them to the point where they would be able to land without hurting themselves. She managed to meet Sora's eyes before hastily looking away, her cheeks burning.

Leila maintained her death grip on Sora's shoe, unable to look up or down, and instead watched the checkerboard pattern roll past. Even if Wonderland's physics had kicked in, Leila didn't trust it for a second. She didn't have any 'poofy' clothing like Sora's, her jeans just loose enough to let her breathe, and her jacket was pretty elastic around the waist and wrists. Clinging onto Sora was the best shot she had at not falling to her death.

"You're okay?" Sora called above her.

"Yeah, for the time being." She chuckled. "Sorry if I'm crushing your foot."

"Don't worry, it's fine!" He said with the distinct tone that it was, in fact, not fine. "Can you see Donald and Goofy? I… can't see past my pants."

"U-Uh…" Leila's eyes flicked down for a second and then snapped her eyes back to the wall. "Nope, can't."

"Can't see them, or can't look?"

"Can't look." Leila tried pulling herself up closer to Sora, only for her her arms to tremble in protest, and she nearly lost her grip. "To be fair, if you were in my position, you wouldn't want to look either."

"I know, but… can you at least try? I mean, what if they already hit the bottom?"

 _Then they'd be dead,_ Leila wanted to snipe back, but she bit her tongue. She knew that would make Sora feel awful, so she instead made a disgruntled rumble and took a deep breath. "For the record, I hate this."

She looked down.

The tunnel was completely dark. Not, 'oh it's hard to make things out but there's some odd shapes here and there' kind of dark, but 'you're being lowered into the abyss with no end in sight' kind of dark. Leila gulped and wrapped her arms around Sora's shoe, pulling her legs close to her chest as she starred, hoping against hope that her eyes would adjust.

After a few seconds, she could see… _something._ It wasn't Donald or Goofy, but instead two faint lights glowing beneath them, one blue and the other green. Beyond that, however, there wasn't anything but the never-ending darkness.

"I _seriously_ can't see anything, Sora."

"Really?"

"Yeah, there's noth― _whoa."_

Leila looked up and threw one of her hands over her eyes, blinking stars out of her vision. She peered through the cracks in her fingers as her eyes adjusted and gaped, completely captivated.

Sora… was a mass of _light._ She couldn't make out his figure properly, as what she could see would dim and glow randomly, twisting in and around itself, constantly shifting. It was brightest around where his chest would be, the light pulsing in what was probably a heartbeat. From there it branched off in what were his arms, legs, and head, though the light was nowhere near as concentrated as the center. Despite the fact that the light wouldn't pause, she could make out three colors―a bright white, a faint pink, and a deep gold.

"'Whoa' what?" Sora asked, his body lighting up with each word. Leila blinked a few times, then rubbed the palm of her hand against her eyes, pressing to the point where she felt a slight twinge of pain. When she opened her eyes again, the tunnel had brightened, and she could make out Sora's form faintly. The lights were gone.

"N-Nothing. I think I'm just seeing things." Leila laughed uneasily and chanced looking down again. She sighed, "Oh thank _god,_ I can see the floor, now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Donald and Goofy, too." The duck and dog were both lying on the floor, though she couldn't tell anything besides that. Leila waited another few seconds to drop closer then let go, now only falling about five feet instead of the five hundred drop she would have suffered. Her ankles ached slightly with a pain that made her feel way older than sixteen, and she waited for Sora to gently land beside her. Sora looked at the wall paper and patterned floor, frowning. "This doesn't look like a normal rabbit hole…"

"What was your first clue?" Leila walked over to Donald and Goofy, who groaned lightly as they picked themselves up off the floor. Goofy appeared somewhat dazed, but Donald was more than fine, jumping up and dusting his jacket off with an irritated glare.

"Where did that stupid rabbit go?" Donald shouted, holding his fists at his side as his head whipped around the small room.

As if on cue, a quick _taptaptaptap_ came from behind them, and they all looked to see the White Rabbit darting past them, out of the room and down the winding hall. In his hand was Donald's staff, a pocket watch (about half his size, but only just a bit larger than average for a person) thumping against the ground. "Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!"

"HEY!" Donald shouted after him, jumping up in the air and waving his arms angrily before giving chase. "GIVE ME BACK MY STAFF!"

The rabbit either didn't care or didn't hear Donald, despite how loud the duck could scream. His voice echoed down the hall, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

"Donald! Wait up!" Goofy had gotten to his feet and took off, Sora hot on his heels. Leila sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She pushed herself up and trailed behind, completely nonplussed by what was happening.

"How'd the rabbit even get behind us?" She wondered aloud, rounding the corner to find the small corridor. She stared blankly at the door inside the door, inside another door, and made a small 'ah.' "Right, we're in Wonderland. How could I forget?"

Crawling through the small opening, Leila entered a room that looked like a cross between… well, a lot of things. The walls had simple light pink wallpaper, though there were a few areas without it, exposing cobblestone and polished, ornate wood. On her right was a brick fireplace, currently not lit, with a stove directly beside it. On her left, smashed awkwardly in a corner, was a bed with a small clock above it. The floor had a mismatched checkerboard pattern, with a large silver-colored circle in the center, two gray squares next to it.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all there, thankfully. Goofy simply looked around the room, taking in the odd collection of furniture. Donald looked as happy as a clam, his magic staff in hand and clutched close to his chest. Sora was on his hands and knees, looking at something by one of the wood sections of the wall. "How did he get so small?"

"No, you're simply too _big."_

The boys all jumped in surprise at the new voice, crowding around Sora. Leila walked up behind them and peered over Sora's head, just in time to see the Doorknob yawn, its metallic mouth stretching out as it yawned. Donald squawked, "It talks!"

"That's…" Leila leaned back, grimacing. Despite the fact she was looking directly at it, she struggled to wrap her head around the fact that hard, inflexible metal was bending and moving around like flesh. "Kinda creepy."

"My, what a—" the Doorknob yawned again. "—rude girl. What a way to wake up!"

Goofy waved, "Good morning!"

"Good _night._ I need a bit more sleep."

"Wait!" Before the Doorknob's eyes could flutter shut, Sora crawled forward, tapping on it to wake it up. "What do we have to do to grow small?"

Though visibly annoyed at being denied his rest, the Doorknob looked over Sora's shoulder, somewhat focused on Leila. "Why don't you try the bottle over there?"

Before Leila could react, the floor she was standing on jolted upwards as a table popped up out of the ground. The sudden change made her lose her balance and she fell to the floor, groaning.

"Leila!" Sora ran to her side, and Leila peeked open her eyes to look at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." She sat up and winced, gingerly pressing her back to gauge the damage. "Nothing's broken, I think, but I probably got a couple bruises."

Sitting up, Leila saw that the small table she had inadvertently stood on was now flanked by a pair of chairs. Placed innocently in the center were two bottles, one with a red label and a tassel reading "Drink me!" and the other with a blue label and small, golden scribbles.

"So…" Leila stood up, gently rubbing the back of her head. "Who's gonna drink it?"

"Me!" Sora immediately grabbed the red bottle, only for Donald to smack it out of his hands.

"No you don't! What if it's poison?"

"Well, how else are we supposed to get small?"

"We don't know if the drink will do that!"

"But the doorknob said so!"

While they argued, Goofy picked up the bottle (miraculously intact), pulled the cork, and took a swig. He smacked his lips and hummed. "Doesn't taste bad. Actually tastes like that cherry pie Max and I eat at home!"

Before Donald could do anything, Sora swiped the bottle from Goofy's hand and took a sip. His eyes widened and he put it down with a smile, ignoring Donald's squawk of surprise. "It tastes like my mom's paella to me!"

"What are you two _doing?"_ Donald screamed, flailing his fists and jumping up and down. "I just said that it could've been poison, and you went and drank it anyway?"

"But Donald," goofy piped up. "It didn't do anything."

"Poison doesn't instantly kill you, you dolt! You could be dying right now, and we wouldn't know!"

"Could you _please_ keep the racket down over there?" The doorknob yawned. "I'm trying to get some shut eye."

"Oh, you want to _sleep?_ I'll help you sleep!" Donald rolled up his sleeves and took a threatening step towards the doorknob while waving his wand.

Leila ran around the table and pulled his shirt collar, stopping him in his tracks. He flailed in her grip, furious squawks and swears leaving his beak as he tried to hit her. "Calm down, will you? You're gonna burst a blood vessel at this rate."

Donald panted, glaring over her shoulder at her before forcefully prying her hand off his shirt. He dusted his shirt off and straightened his cap. "Fine, _fine._ I will be _calm."_

"Thank you. Now then—" Leila turned to look at Sora and Goofy, only to blink when they weren't there. She glanced down at the floor to see Sora jumping up and down and waving his arms, Goofy just beside him, trying desperately to get their attention.

Leila crouched down and put one of her hands down on the floor in front of them, the palm facing upwards. Once they were both on, she slowly lifted them up so that Donald could see them.

"Huh…" Donald blinked. "Guess it _wasn't_ poison."

Sora and Goofy winced and moved to cover their ears. When Leila spoke, she made sure to keep her voice low. "Did it hurt?"

"No!" Sora shouted at her, but Leila could barely hear him. "It was just really fast!"

"Can we ask the Doorknob to let us through?" Goofy shouted. Leila nodded, and brought the two shrunken members of their group up to the Doorknob, who snored away.

"Hello! Mister Doorknob!" Though Goofy shouted at the top of his lungs, he sounded like he was barely at a normal speaking level.

Sora gave it a try. "We managed to get small!"

Leila knocked against him with her free hand and, though she saw his lips twitch slightly, got the same non-reaction as the others. "Jeez, heavy sleeper, huh?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Donald practically _vibrating_ with rage. She cupped her hand over Sora and Goofy just before Donald yelled, pulling his staff out. A ball of fire materialized at the top, and Leila stood and kicked the staff so that the it wouldn't burn the door. "What the _hell_ are you _doing?"_

Donald huffed and the glow vanished. "We need to go through!"

"So then why were you going to throw a fireball at him?" She hissed, moving her free hand and keeping her voice low so that she wouldn't deafen Sora and Goofy.

"How else were we going to wake him up?"

"Oh my _god."_ Leila turned carefully, keeping Sora and Goofy close so that they wouldn't be thrown around nearly as much. She remembered, a long time ago, getting stuck on this room when she first played Kingdom Hearts. The door wouldn't respond to anything, there weren't any obvious entrances or exits besides the one she came from, and the Heartless were annoying at best, relentless at worst.

Now, however, she knew what to do. Leila went to the bed smashed into the corner and lightly pushed on the frame with her foot. It shot into the wall, becoming a flat, 2D image, exposing a hidden entrance. Leila stumbled and pulled Sora and Goofy close to her chest so they wouldn't fall. She grinned, bending down and lowering her hand so that Sora and Goofy could get down. Once they were safely on the floor, Leila rose from her crouch and turned to Donald. "There, we now have a way to proceed _without_ throwing fireballs at people."

Donald narrowed his eyes and turned, grabbing the red bottle and taking a swig. His expression screwed up, but he shook it off, leaving the bottle on the table and walking to the entrance. With each step he took, he shrunk in pulses until he was on-scale with Sora and Goofy. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken distance into account, and once the potion had really taken effect, he essentially had to walk the length of a football field.

She grinned mischievously as she watched Donald freeze, realize how far he had to walk, and hop up in down in anger. Despite the distance between them, Leila could still hear his angry screams.

When he finished his screaming fit, he looked up at Leila with an expectant expression. She shined her brightest, most innocent smile at him, took a swig from the bottle and hopped toward the entrance Sora and Goofy stood by.

Mid-air, Leila shrunk even faster than Donald had, but she didn't slow down. She let out a panicked scream as she flew uncontrollably through the air, hitting the ground and tumbling head-over-heels until she slammed into the wall.

She laid there for a few seconds, waiting for her breath to come back to her before rolling onto her side. She looked up to see Sora holding his stomach and laughing hysterically, Goofy chuckling besides him, and Donald making his way towards them with the smuggest grin on his stupid beak.

"Yeah, yeah," Leila grunted as she pulled herself off the floor. She winced as she straightened up, already able to tell her back would be covered in black and blue later. "Leila tried to cheat the system, laugh it up."

"I'm sorry, but…" Sora managed to choke out before another fit of laughter overtook him, and he had to look away.

"You're all dusty." Goofy pointed out. Leila looked down and grimaced at the thin layer of gray covering her entire body. She wiped off her jacket and jeans as best as she could, holding back the urge to sneeze as it floated up to her face. "Guess no one's swept under the bed for a long time, huh?"

"If you had just brought me over, none of this would have happened." Donald smugly said with his beak tilted up. Leila patted off the final patches of dust and rolled her eyes.

"Riiight." Leila gestured at the open doorway. "Well, age before beauty, after all."

Donald opened his mouth to argue, but Goofy walked past both of them and past the opening before he could get a word out. He huffed but soon followed, staff in hand as he followed his friend. Sora got out the last of his giggles and looked at her, his lips twitching as he tried, valiantly, to keep from laughing again.

Leila reached over and ruffled his hair, making the messy bedhead even worse. "Come on, unless you want to get left in the dust?"

Sora threw his head back and groaned. "That was _such_ a bad pun."

"Huh?" Leila mentally rewound what she said. "Oh. I… didn't mean to do that."

"Well, don't do one _that_ bad again." With that, he started walking to the entrance, Leila trailing a few paces behind. She looked over her shoulder when she stood in the doorway, frowning at the too-quiet kitchen.

"Weird…" She whispered to herself before continuing after the boys. She could have sworn that Heartless were supposed to appear and attack them once they shrank, but… nothing. Then again, for all she knew, she accidentally crushed them beneath her feet while carrying Sora and Goofy around.

The entrance led to a small tunnel that twisted and turned, with no light besides the small amount coming from the kitchen, which faded fast. It was long until Leila placed her hand against the wall and moved blindly forward, blindly trusting the sound of footsteps to guide her. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck, and she had to resist the urge to pull her arms close and hug herself.

After a few minutes of walking, Leila's leg bumped into something warm, and she nearly screamed before she heard Sora make a small pained grunt. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Sora whispered back, and Leila suddenly realized there was a faint light in front of them, Goofy's silhouette blocking out most of it. "Why'd we stop?"

"Shh!" Someone shushed him―probably Donald―as a trumpet rang out, playing a quick, semi-regal tune. Blinking the last spots out of her vision, Leila saw a garden bordered by tall hedges, red roses scattered along them. Directly in front of her was a hedge archway, and beyond that were the famous card soldiers. All of them proudly displayed the hearts suit, wielding lances with heart-shaped points crossed overhead to create a tunnel.

And at the end of the tunnel, stood behind a podium, hands clasped behind her back, was Alice.

"Court is now in session!" The White Rabbit's shrill voice rang out across the garden, and the card soldiers dropped their lances, standing at attention.

"I'm on trial? But why?" Alice asked. Leila and the others inched closer to the archway, still out of sight but able to see a bit more than from the entrance.

"Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding." The card soldiers bent forward into a bow before snapping back to attention. Sitting in a judge's chair, towering above Alice, was the Queen herself.

She glared down at the measly beings beneath her, a few stray hairs that had freed themselves from the neat bun falling in front of her eyes. Placing a hand on her counter, she leaned closer, eyes skimming over Alice's petite form before she made a loud 'harrumph!' and sat back in her chair. "This girl is the culprit, there's _no_ doubt about it. And the reason is… because I say so, that's why!"

"That is so unfair!" Alice cried out, leaning over the podium imploringly.

"What kind of court _is_ this?" Sora whispered to Leila.

She shrugged and whispered back, "A bad one…" for lack of anything better to say. She'd seen this played out so many times, she could practically quote it word-for-word, and it was a scene that wiggled its way under her skin.

"Well," The Queen continued, "have you anything to say in your defense?"

"Of course!" Alice crossed her arms in front of her and met the Queen's gaze head on. "I've done absolutely _nothing_ wrong!"

The words change the entire atmosphere of the garden. The Queen's face grew bright red. The card soldiers tremble, feet shuffling as they resisted the urge to shuffle away. Up on a tall tower, the White Rabbit cowered in fear, covering his head with his paws. Leila felt her flight or fight instincts kicked in, and she hesitantly put her hand on Sora's shoulder, fully prepared to throw him behind her to… do something, she didn't even know.

Completely unaware, Alice bulldozed onward. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so… so mean!

 _"SILENCE!"_ The Queen roared, the tension in the room exploding. Alice's hair flew back, the cards bent, the White Rabbit abandoned his position atop the tower and instead hid behind it, out of the Queen's view. Leila's arms changed in front of her very eyes, inky-black tendrils appearing out of thin air and wrapping around her like a second skin, and she clamped down on Sora's shoulder, barely resisting the urge to pull him behind her. Even Donald and Goofy seemed to be affected, edging in front of both of them and pulling their weapons out, held at the ready. "You _dare_ defy _me?"_

And Sora―beautiful, innocent, heart-of-gold-and-zero-self-preservation Sora―said, "We gotta help her."

Leila nearly smacked him, but she figured the iron grip keeping him in place was enough of a deterrent. Donald, on the other hand, was much more vocal. "No, we don't."

"But she's gonna go to jail for something she didn't do!"

"She probably deserved it." Donald said haughtily, though Leila could see that his feathers were distinctly ruffled.

"And even if she doesn't, we'd be breakin' the rules and end up muddlin' things." Goofy added, shield raised as the Queen continued to rave, albeit at a lower volume than before.

" _Meddling!"_ Donald corrected.

Sora, realizing that he lost his favor with the others, turned to Leila with his best puppy dog eyes. "Pleeease?"

Realistically, Leila knew that Sora would interfere, which would start the rest of Wonderland as they scoured the forest for evidence, ending with the fight against the Emblem Heartless. The rest of the group would follow him, gladly or not, to help prove Alice's innocence and deal with the Heartless along the way.

Right now, Leila saw an enraged Queen out for blood, ranting and raving like a lunatic, and the last thing she wanted to do was let Sora run out and interrupt her, only end up on the chopping block instead.

"Wait for her to calm down, first." She pointed at the Queen, the red slowly draining from her face as she calmed down. "You're not gonna get a word in while she's still mad."

It took another minute for the Queen to compose herself. She fanned herself and pulled her loose strands back, only for them to fall into her face once again. The White Rabbit hastily returned to the top of his tower, still visibly trembling as he looked between the two women.

"The court finds the defendant… guilty as charged!" The Queen began, "For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart!"

Sora gasped. "Donald!"

"We. Are not. Meddling." Donald didn't even bother looking over his shoulder. Sora looked up at Leila, the puppy eyes returning with an added trembling lip.

 _"OFF_ WITH HER _HEAD!"_ The Queen screamed, grinning madly. The card soldiers jolted into action, lances pointed at Alice to keep her from running. She screamed, ducking down and trying to run away, only to get grabbed and pulled back, the soldiers jumping on top of her in a pile.

"Okay, _now."_ Leila let go of Sora's shoulder, and he dashed forward, shoving Donald and Goofy into the hedge. Leila felt a tiny bit of satisfaction seeing Donald with his head stuck in the bushes, but that was smothered beneath the rush of fear seeing Sora running out to intervene in what was essentially a dog pile.

"Stop, stop!" He called out, the shock of that alone making the card soldier's freeze in place. Leila ran to meet him, pulling some of the soldiers off of Alice so that she could stand up.

The Queen picked her jaw up off the counter and glared at the both of them, sneering particularly at Leila. "Who are _you?_ How _dare_ you interfere with my court!"

Sora tensed up, taking a nervous step back as he realized everyone had turned their attention onto him. "Excuse me, but we know who the _real_ culprit is."

"Uh-huh!" Goofy exclaimed behind them, still by the hedge. "It's the Heart―"

He cut off with a yelp, and Leila turned to see him rubbing the back of his head. Donald, now free of the hedges, glared up at him while tapping his staff to his hand.

" _Anyway,"_ Sora laughed awkwardly. "She's not the one you're looking for."

"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" The Queen drummed her fingers against the counter. When Sora didn't say anything, her grin grew vicious, and she took a deep breath―

And then Leila jumped in, her tongue running ahead of her brain. "Look, if you're right, then yay! But if _we're_ right, who's to say the real culprit won't come back and try again?"

The Queen leaned over her counter and glared at Leila, who swallowed and tried to look her in the eye. After what felt like an eternity, the Queen huffed and fell back in her chair, waving her hand at the guards. "Lock the defendant up."

Two cards grabbed Alice's arms and dragged her to a large bird cage directly next to the Queen's chair, throwing her in and slamming the door shut. Alice groaned and pushed herself up, watching the soldiers as they walked back to their positions with a frown.

"I will _amuse_ this little fancy of yours. You have one hour to bring me evidence of Alice's innocence."

"An hour?" Sora whined.

"One. _Hour."_ The Queen leaned forward and drummed her fingers on the counter with an evil grin. "Un _less_ you'd rather I execute her now?"

Leila slapped her hand over Sora's mouth. "An hour's fine."

"Thank you, dear. Now, GET TO WORK!" The Queen roared, and all the cards jumped to attention. Leila winced, pulling Sora away from the court and towards a different archway, the hedges turning gray and the red rose bushes became white the further they ran.

And while they were running, the only sounds were their hurried footsteps and heavy panting, Leila could only think, _Welp, we're screwed._

* * *

 **AN:** *crawls out of the seasonal depression hole with the power of sheer spite, ignoring the distractions of DMCV and D:BH as I go* hi how are ya.

For those of you wondering why it took so long to get this up, I have two reasons. One is what was stated above: seasonal depression's a bitch and, when combined with writing the novelization for the KH world I hate the most while including original elements, this chapter just was _not_ working. I didn't hate it, and I _especially_ don't hate the little things I'm gonna add later to distance this from the game slightly, but I just… hate Wonderland. The only other world I hate on an equal scale would be Arendelle (oddly enough, for opposite reasons).

The second excuse is that I wanted to watch Alice in Wonderland (the original from 1951) before writing this chapter in order to know where the characters would initially land, and to add some additional bits later (chapter nine is going to have some of these additions!). However, as far as I could find, neither Netflix or Amazon Prime had the original film, and most piracy sites didn't have it either. I eventually found it, but it was on an archival site? I mean, it was the full original film, so I can't complain, but it was just a weird place to find it.

But yeah! This is a real chapter! On April Fool's Day (well, for me, anyways. It's 12 AM on April 1st so that counts, right?) I wanted to get this up on Sora's bithday, but then I was a day late doing edits, and I decided to wait until April Fool's Day to do a fake-out for readers. Rest assured, this is very much the real chapter, so don't worry! Chapter nine will (hopefully) come sooner as I have the start already written out, and I know what direction I want it to take. The only hard part is that I'm going to have to write ~two fight scenes, which are always difficult to write, so... yay?

Thank you all for reading, and being so patient when it comes to me uploading. Hopefully we'll be out of Wonderland before the summer rolls in lol.

Also,,, we might,,, totally possibly,,, be getting some art of Leila soon? So, uh, yeah, get hyped for that shiz


	9. Over the River and Through the Woods

**CHAPTER 9: Over the River and Through the Woods**

" _Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"_

" _That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."_

" _I don't much care where―"_

" _Then it doesn't matter which way you go." ― Lewis Carroll_

* * *

Leila _hated_ Wonderland.

Oh, sure, it wasn't a _bad_ world. There were plenty of other worlds that had worse mechanics and storylines, and she knew this, but Wonderland drove her nuts in all the wrong ways. The background music drove her nuts (thankfully absent now, but she could still _hear it,_ permanently engraved in her mind), finding evidence was annoying and time-consuming, said evidence didn't even matter that much considering there was RNG involved at the end and, the coup de grace, the Trickmaster had to easily be one of the most annoying Emblem Heartless in the series.

So yeah, Leila hated Wonderland. Was her least favorite world in the series, actually.

And Donald screeching at them wasn't helping change her opinion. Really, he was only solidifying it.

"YOU!"

 _Smack._

"Ow! Don―"

"STUPID!"

 _Smack._

" _Ow!_ Donald, quit it!"

"DUNDERHEAD!"

Sora summoned his Keyblade, blocking Donald's staff. " _Donald!"_

"Should we stop him?" Leila whispered to Goofy as she watched Donald repeatedly smack Sora's Keyblade with his staff.

"Naw, I think we should just let him burn himself out," Goofy answered. "Unless he really hurts Sora."

Leila nodded, but couldn't help but feel bad for Sora as she watched Donald relentlessly bring his staff down again and again. She pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing tiredly, and decided to look around the area they ran to. Right now, they were in the middle of what was _probably_ Lotus Forest.

Problem was that Lotus Forest was, well, a forest. With Traverse Town, Leila could recognize most, if not all of the areas since they matched the in-game version almost perfectly. The same could be said for the room they landed in, as well as the kitchen. The forest, however, looked like the ones she would find in her backyard, and the most she could see were the various wild flowers arching over her head. There wasn't a well-defined path, any landmarks, or anything that stood out to her.

Which meant that Leila had no idea where they were, where the evidence was, or how they would even get it. Finding evidence was something she still struggled with, often needing a guide to find that _last_ hint. The only thing she could reliably find was the secret passage to the kitchen, which would end with the Cheshire Cat giving Sora the blizzard spell, but even _that_ would be difficult.

God she hated Wonderland. She hated Wonderland with a passion.

"And you!" Donald abruptly broke off hsi angered ranting and spun around, pointing his staff at Leila. "You didn't even _try_ to stop him!"

"Because I agreed with him." Leila argued. "Alice is innocent, there isn't a doubt in my mind."

"But we can't prove it! We don't even know what happened!"

"But we can _guess_ at the very least. Find some small things, fake it 'til we make it, I don't know."

"Do you even know how to run a trial?"

Leila rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "That doesn't have to do with anything. The point is, we did what was right, and that's what's most important."

"The most important thing was to not meddle! That was rule number one! And what is the first thing you do when we go to a new world?" Donald jumped up and down, flailing his staff wildly, not even really aiming at Sora. "YOU MEDDLED!"

"But it had to do with the Heartless!" Sora stood at Leila's side, letting Donald continue to angrily jump up and down, his staff a blur. "I know you said we couldn't meddle, but the Queen accused Alice of something she didn't do, and it was the Heartless' fault. We _had_ to meddle!"

Donald stopped jumping and changed tracks to glare at Sora, grumbling wordlessly. After waiting a few seconds to make sure he'd calmed down enough, Leila spoke up. "It seemed pretty obvious to me that we needed to interfere, Donald. The Keyblade's the only thing that can deal with the Heartless. If they're terrorizing the people living here, we should try and stop them."

"What if it _isn't_ the Heartless?" Donald questioned.

"Well, it's too late now. We have an hour, which isn't a lot of time, and standing here talking about it isn't going to help anyone. We're trying to keep ourselves and an innocent girl from getting beheaded. I don't see a problem with that."

"Maybe the Queen's lyin'?" Goofy chimed in, everyone looking at him in surprise. "She is called the Queen of _Hearts._ Maybe she's accusin' Alice of tryin' to steal her property!"

Leila pressed her lips firmly together to keep from laughing. Once she was confident the fit passed, she said, "So… Alice, who's probably younger than Sora, is a predatory real estate dealer?"

"Come on, it _has_ to be the Heartless." Sora pumped his arms. "There's gotta be someone around here we can talk to that can act as a witness for Alice."

"But if there are, why didn't the Queen find them?" Donald asked.

"Easy―she doesn't care." Leila shrugged. "All she wants is to make someone's head roll."

"Yeah, _ours."_ He grumbled, walking further into the woods, towards a patch of wilting tulips. "We're going to be lumped into the same group as Alice because neither of you could keep your mouths shut!"

"Oh, did something happen to Alice?" Leila froze as a smooth voice came from above her, and she looked around in confusion. She was pretty sure that the only other person they met here was the Cheshire Cat, but the voice was distinctly female.

"The little weed? What do we care about her?" A haughty woman called out.

"I still think she's cute." Said a nasally voice, and then, to their surprise, a little rosebud unfurled and bent down towards them. "These flowers are cute too!"

Leila refrained from making a face. She remembered that there were tulips that you could exchange items with, but she rarely ever talked to them, considering the trades pointless and a waste of her early-game supplies. Plus, she never liked making the trip back to Traverse Town without the warp drive, as the Gummi Ship sections were _torture_ in comparison to later games, so she rationed her potions and ethers wisely.

In other words, she didn't want to engage with the black market of Wonderland, especially when they were on a time limit. She gently placed her hand on Sora's back and nudged him forward, glancing up at the rosebud. "C'mon, let's go."

"Did the monsters get her?" A pair of violets leaned down, curling in front of them and blocking their path.

Sora perked up and ran up to them, unbothered when they lifted themselves away from the floor, their petals curling back. "You know Alice?"

"We met her briefly." The haughty voice said, and another purple flower appeared, pushing a few leaves out of the way so she could be seen. "But once we discovered that she was a weed, we chased her away. We can't have _weeds_ around us fair flowers."

"And then the monsters came." The rosebud pulled back, its petals curling around her face.

"Monsters?" Goofy asked.

Three tulips curled forward, speaking one after the other. "Since we're flowers, all we had to do was hold still, and they passed right by!"

"There were many small ones who clicked and clacked and clattered."

"And there were the flying ones, as red as the Queen's roses―and about as chatty as they are as well!"

"And there was that big hulking one that nearly trampled the pansies!"

"To be fair, it trampled almost anything." A fully-bloomed rose said, her voice alone silencing the background chatter of the flowers. "But the most terrifying one of them all would be the one beyond our lovely forest. It's only come by a few times, but it smells of coal and embers, and we're deathly afraid."

"Why can't you deal with it?" Donald asked. "Or tell the Queen about it."

"We're flowers, we can't _move._ Besides, the Queen has many other roses in her domain. One wild rose and her many friends won't make a difference to her." The rose twisted around, one of her leaves pointing at something far in the distance. "The monsters went to visit the Mad Hatter's domain one day, and the next, the fiend appeared, prancing through our fields, terrorizing every living thing."

"So, we should go to the… 'Mad Hatter's Domain'?" Sora asked. "How do we get there?"

"Walking usually does the trick." The haughty purple flower said from above them, turning her backs on them. "I hardly care, so long as you get away from here. After all, you're all common weeds, just like Alice."

With that, the flowers pulled back, making disgusted noises as they moved. Some flowers covered their faces with their petals, while others pulled grass stems in front of them to hide. Donald shouted at them, "Hey! You can't just leave us with just that!"

But the flowers didn't respond, holding completely still, as if to camouflage themselves. Leila sighed and walked away, completely fed up. "Come on, at least now we _know_ the Heartless are here."

* * *

Having a time limit made any task hard. Having a time limit of an hour, the clock ticking down while running through a forest they'd never been in before, unable to find any landmarks because they were the size of thumbtacks, looking for a witness to testify when they knew absolutely no one, all while fighting rogue Heartless that just popped into existence right in front of them, made things _impossible._

When another series of pops came in front of her, Leila groaned, stretching out her fingers as the boys took out their weapons. Typically, it was a few Soldiers accompanied by some Shadows, which didn't take too long to dismantle. It almost felt like routine: Donald threw out a Thunder, stunning them, and the rest of them darted in and took them out.

This time, however, the group was different. There were maybe three, four Shadows, each one paired with a Red Nocturne, all of them surrounding a Large Body. Leila took a step back, keeping her eyes on the Nocturnes as they flitted about, making a light jingling noise as they moved.

"Uh…" Sora mumbled on her left, then let out a surprised shout as she charged forward.

"Focus on the small ones, leave the big guy for last!" She shouted over her shoulder, grabbing one of the Shadows on the right before it could sink into the ground and throwing it up to hit one of the Red Nocturnes. Both of them evaporated into whisps, the impact enough to take them both out.

Donald squawked, and Thunder rained down around her, hitting the Large Body and stunning it, but missing the agile Shadows and Nocturnes. Sora ran forward, making a large swipe with his Keyblade just as the two Shadows on the left emerged from the ground, killing one and blocking the other's scratch.

Leila was pulled out of her observation when Goofy tackled her to the side, blocking a fireball hurled at her back. The Red Nocturnes circled high above their heads, jingling merrily as the tips of their pointed hats began to glow bright with fire. Panicking, Leila pulled Goofy down to the ground, and he threw the shield over their heads, wincing as they were battered by fire, embers falling around them like rain.

She glanced around, seeing that Sora was preoccupied by the remaining three Shadows, who were sinking and attacking just in time to avoid or block Sora's attacks. Donald ran past them, the Large Body on his heels with its belly jutting out, trying to tackle him. Or, maybe crush him. Could be both.

Biting her lip, Leila looked at Goofy, who was peering around the shield to try and accurately move it to cover them better when the next fireball hit. She tapped his arm as carefully as she could with her claws and asked, "Do you think you can throw me up?"

Goofy put a finger to his chin and made a thoughtful noise. "If you get on top o' my shield, I can probably boost you!"

"Okay, ready?" Goofy shifted his feet before nodding, and Leila rolled out from under the shield. A fireball grazed her cheek and singed a few loose strands of her hair before exploding on the ground just in front of her.

Before she could chicken out, Leila put one foot on top of Goofy's shield and hoisted herself up, arms flailing as she and Goofy adjusted. Her eyes flicked between his shield and the Nocturnes, whose bodies began to glow, embers flaking off them as they shook. "Goofy, _now!"_

Goofy pushed up and Leila nearly fell off his shield, but managed to jump up high enough to grab two that were beginning to glow. She hissed, the heat searing through the layer of darkness surrounding her hands. She chucked them in the general direction of the Shadows. Once they hit the Shadows, the Nocturnes exploded, taking out the small group and, thankfully, missing Sora.

The improvised move took out the last Shadows, leaving one Nocturne and the Large Body, which was still chasing Donald. Leaving the remaining Nocturne to Sora and Goofy, Leila charged at the portly Heartless, swiping at its back. Her clawed fingers snagged on the tough fabric of its bodysuit, tearing four long, diagonal scratches through the fabric.

The Large Body made a distorted grunt and spun around, it's arms thrown out. Leila had to throw herself back to avoid getting smacked in the head with its fist. The Large Body looked down, tilting its head curiously as she took a few steps back. She _might_ be fast enough to dart around and get a decent hit at its back again, but if she wasn't she'd get hit, or it would simply turn and face her. Plus, it might attack Donald if it spun around to try and hit her―

Sora ran forward with a scream and swung his Keyblade down right on the Large Body's stomach. It bounced off harmlessly, and the momentum threw Sora onto his back, groaning dazedly as the Keyblade disappeared with a flash of light. Leila spared a moment to wince at him sympathetically before the Large Body smacked its stomach and leapt forward.

She barely managed to roll out of the way, making a strangled noise of panic as she did. The Large Body skidded and rocked back and forth on its stomach, giving Leila ample opportunity to raise her hands above her head and slam them down on its back. The Large Body grunted and pushed itself onto its feet, swiping its fist at Leila and clipping her arm as she fell back. They eyed each other up, the Large Body lumbering awkwardly as it adjusted so that, no matter which way she moved, it was always facing her.

"Blizzard!" Donald shouted, and Leila grinned, ready for the Large Body to stumble and turn to hit whatever harmed it.

Instead, it charged towards her, arms flailing at its sides. Caught off guard, Leila crossed her arms in front of her and braced herself as best she could, but it didn't help. It felt like a padded wall rammed into her, the force of the blow throwing her head over heels. Her back slammed into something, knocking the wind out of her and stunning her. She choked on nothing and writhed, unable to breathe. The Large Body lumbered towards her, arms swinging merrily, before it jerked to a stop, the tip of the Kingdom Key poking through its chest before its body dissolved, a crystal heart floating into the air.

Leila grit her teeth and dug her claws into the object behind her, feeling bark splinter under her claws. Sora dismissed the Keyblade and ran towards her, helping her to her feet as she slowly regained her breath. His eyes darted up and down, like he could see her bruises through her clothes, before glaring over his shoulder. "What the heck?"

"What?" Donald called out.

"You were supposed to help Leila!" Sora balled his hands into fists. "She could've gotten hurt!"

 _Well, that ship's already sailed._ Leila swallowed and stood up straighter, already imagining the mottled bruises that covered her back. Donald and Goofy walked up to them, nursing a few scratches and scorch marks between them, the former visibly annoyed.

"Goofy would've been burned alive if I hadn't cast that spell!" He argued.

"Aw, Donald, I think I would've been―"

"And if I hadn't gotten up, the big one would've crushed Leila!" Sora shouted back, interrupting Goofy. "We needed your help!"

"If you can't handle a couple Heartless, then you shouldn't be here."

"You little―!"

"My, my, what a curious group!" Leila jumped at the unfamiliar voice that came from behind her. Turning around, she looked up to see the Cheshire Cat grinning down at them over the tree stump, his tail draped graciously over his head. "You certainly have those boys wrapped around your finger, don't you?"

"I… no? I don't?" Leila couldn't help but turn that into a question, so completely confused by it that she felt like she needed to give her mind a hard reboot.

"She doesn't." Donald snidely confirmed.

"Who're you supposed to be?" Sora asked.

"Who indeed." The Cheshire Cat's head casually rolled off his shoulders, falling over the edge and falling down, stopping abruptly mid-air once it was eye-level with Leila. His body stood up and paced back and forth, scratching at where his chin would be. Leila's eyes flicked between them, unable to figure out where she should look. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"Do ya know who really did it?" Goofy asked.

"And could you act as a witness for Alice?" Leila crossed her fingers behind her back. They had to be past the hour mark at this point, and they'd have to go back sooner or later to face the music, either by their own volition or dragged back by the card soldiers.

"Oh, if only! But, as you can see," Starting at his feet, the Cheshire Cat's body slowly vanished, travelling up until it disappeared completely. His head shook happily. "I'm not all here, nor there."

Leila scoffed, uncrossing her fingers. Sora spoke up besides her, "Well, can you tell us where the Mad Hatter is instead?"

His head bounced over to Sora, his body suddenly darting out of the undergrowth. They both circled Sora, moving against each other, making it impossible to follow both of them at the same time. "The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

Without warning, his head and body stopped, hovering above each other and then snapping together. The Cheshire Cat spun around and pointed off to the right of the group, the long stalks of grass curling as they became covered in a layer of frost. The tips dipped down until they crossed over each other, the frost connecting and creating a tunnel. "Though, I would recommend going in there if you wish to play tag with the shadows."

He snapped his fingers (which looked _really freaking weird_ when done with a tiny cat paw) and disappeared with a cartoonish 'pop.' They stood there for a few seconds, staring at the empty spot where the Cat once stood, before turning their attention to the tunnel of ice.

"D'ya think we can trust him?" Goofy whispered, leaning down to Donald's height.

The Cheshire Cat dropped on top of Goofy, who jumped a foot into the air with a scream. He turned and ran to Leila, jumping into her arms, and she nearly fell down with his added weight straining her bruised muscles.

"To trust or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cat pondered, hovering in mid air where he landed on Goofy. As he spoke, he slowly faded away, his voice echoing slightly. "I trust you'll decide!"

They waited a few seconds to see if he would appear again, then Leila groaned. "Goofy, can you please… get down?"

"Huh? Oh!" Goofy hopped down, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Leila."

"Should we go in there?" Sora asked, peering into the tunnel of frozen grass. Donald huffed beside him, already shaking his head, but he leaned forward to look in nonetheless.

"We don't have a lot of options." Leila brought up, coming to Sora's side. "We could wander aimlessly until we run out of time, or we could take a risk and hopefully find something for the trial. Seems pretty simple to me."

"Do we have any time left?" Donald asked.

"We couldn't exactly keep track." Leila shrugged and walked past them, turning to face the group once she was in the ice tunnel. "But I don't think we've got a lot left. At the very least, even if we don't find anything, we'd be following a path instead of getting even more lost and getting beheaded."

Donald glared at her. "You're going to go through there no matter what I say, aren't you."

"Pretty much."

Donald pinched the bridge of his… beak, Leila guessed, and waved his hand at her in a "go on" kind of gesture. Leila gave him a toothy grin and turned around, lacing her fingers together above the small of her back as she started walking. The ground, though untouched by ice, was noticeably damp, and her shoes sank in a with a disgusting 'squelch'."

Sora ran to her side, looking around the tunnel. "How'd you think he did this?"

"Who, the cat?" Leila shrugged. "I dunno, how does Donald make fireballs and lightning?"

Sora hummed and crossed his arms behind his head. A few seconds passed in silence, then he looked up at her through his hair. "D'you think we could do that? Magic?"

Leila couldn't help but snort. Oh, sure, Sora could and _would_ learn magic just fine, but her?

…Well, it wasn't _impossible._ She thought she'd be kicking Heartless and hiding behind the trio for the entire journey, but then she got literal magic hands. It certainly wasn't unlikely, but she couldn't see herself making a chunk of ice out of nothing, or a fireball, or summoning lightning, or… well, anything.

"Who knows." She eventually settled on, looking down at Sora with a self-satisfied smirk. "Maybe when Donald's in a better mood, we can ask him to give us some pointers."

Sora groaned, throwing his head back as his arms fall limply to his sides. "Then we'll _never_ learn!"

Leila couldn't help but laugh, the sound so loud it drowned out Donald's annoyed grumbles.

* * *

 **AN:** Me: I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!  
Sickness, job applications, joining an RP server, quitting the RP server bc of stress, life: Hm, well―

A bit of a shorter chapter than usual but trust me, if I didn't cut the chapter off there, we'd get another 5k of words and this chapter would never get out bc I would just be constantly tearing it to shreds jesus christ. I do _not_ like Wonderland and trying to write a VERY game-mechanic-y part of the story into something cohesive for a narrative is difficult. Seriously, some of the evidence you pick up in game can't be… picked up and put in a present box (which is what happens in the trial, SO… I gotta compromise).

I would like to give a formal thank you to the Alice in Wonderland Wiki who provided me a list of all the flowers that appeared in the movie, because without them I would have no clue what any of the flowers (besides the roses) were. Granted, Leila doesn't know a lot about flowers either, but the only one she wouldn't be able to identify would be the… well, the "haughty flower" lol. I still don't know WHAT flower she's supposed to be, but it's the one that has a hookah pipe (?) and is purple. Anyone want to tell me what flower it's supposed to be?

Also! Also also also! There is art! Of Leila! To make a long story short, I won an art raffle, and the wonderful stark-illustrates on Tumblr drew her! I have the link up on my bio, and she's beautiful. Just imagine she's wearing a loose black jacket as well and she's basically wearing her outfit and I'm so! Happy! Art! Exists! Of my daughter! AAAAAAHHH!


End file.
